Chicken Fegatini

Chicken Fegatini

a fancy way of saying Chicken Livers

A couple years ago, I took a few cooking classes with Margot of Margot Cafe in Nashville.  I keep taking cooking classes from local chefs in hopes that the classes will make me a better cook.  During this class, Margot whipped up a rustic chicken liver pate that was so good.  It was livers and veggies, not a fatty creamy variety, rather an Italian fegatini variety of chicken livers.  I went home and did not make it for years because I could not get a reliable source of local, free range, well handled chicken livers, but I kept on thinking about this chicken liver dish all this time.  

Then, I met Wedge Oak Farm.  This is family farm located just to east of Nashville.  The livestock is well cared for from day one to day last, free range, and heritage breeds.  There is so much about Wedge Oak Farm I like and respect that they are my only source of chicken livers.  Now that I have an excellent source of chicken livers, I can make this delicious Chicken Fegitini I have thought about for all these years.

The Chicken Fegatini recipe can be used in 2 ways.  1st it can be a rustic chicken fegatini and vegetable pate, and the 2nd is to be a chicken fegatini bolognese.  Actually the rustic pate has tomato sauce in it, and then adding more tomato sauce makes the bolognese.  I love that one recipe is good for multiple uses!  Read on and find out.

The recipe comes in 2 parts, the tomato sauce part and the liver part.  Here is the sauce part:

Sauce ingredients:

Rough chop and de-seed the tomatoes, peppers (Barefoot Farmer, Bells Bend)

Rough chop  onions and carrots (Barefoot Farmer, Bells Bend)

Rough chop garlic, basil, parsley (Barefoot Farmer, Bells Bend)

Splash of red wine

Ground pepper

A dash of cayenne (my organic garden)

A dash of non-GMO soy sauce (Bourbon Barrel)

Method:

Put all ingredients into a pot and boil down to 1/2 the volume

Blend until smooth

Now for the chicken liver and veggie pate portion

Pate ingredients

Few strips of bacon diced (Scotts)

Pound of chicken livers (Wedge Oak Farms)

Diced large onion, minced clove or 2 of garlic (Barefoot Farmer, Bells Bend)

A couple anchovies

Mince a hand full of kalamata olives

A few pinches of dill (Barefoot Farmer)

Splash of red wine

Splash red wine vinegar (I made with left over wine)

Parsley, thyme, oregano, basil as desired (Barefoot Farmer, Bells Bend, my garden)

Tomato sauce (see above)

The method for the pate:

Saute bacon

Saute in bacon and fat diced onion and minced garlic

Add a couple anchovies and let them dissolve into mixture

Add rough chopped chicken livers and saute until they are falling apart

Add minced kalamata olives

Add dill and saute until all is incorporated

Add about 1/2 - 1 cup of thick tomato sauce saute to evaporate some moisture

Add a splash of wine and saute until alcohol is boiled off

Add a splash of vinegar and stir saute until incorporated

Add salt and pepper to taste

Stir until it is a consistency that you want to spread on crackers

Add rough chopped parsley, thyme, oregano, basil other herbs as desired

The Pate can be served hot or cold

To make the Chicken Fegatini Bolognese

Combine a cup of pate with a quart of tomato sauce and serve over pasta