I was craving the savory flavors of puttanesca… but what to do on a Monday night? Add liver! Any night is a good night for liver, but I find that if I always start the week off well, everything is easier. I created a weekly meal schedule for our family many years ago… to be sure we would have a steady relationship with the most nutrient-dense foods. Chicken Liver Puttanesca was a great Monday night meal and is sure to have a repeat appearance in our home.
Meal planning
Meal planning has been a huge benefit to our family. We benefit from the anticipation of the routine and also the way it simplifies time and effort for planning. I can hardly remember serving any of my kids without a schedule, though I know we didn’t start this way!
I’ve asked many families about their own meal routines over many years (whether they consider it in the context of meal planning or not). I’ve learned that many people instinctively, or perhaps due to other constraints, tend to eat similar meals some nights each week. And I’ve learned that having a meal plan takes the guesswork out of each night and gives us one less thing to think about it.
For me, it helps ensure that we get the most nutrient-dense foods into our diet each week. It doesn’t always happen, but for the for most part (over many years) it does.
I’ve been thinking about it lately because I’m offering a special meal planning 1:1 bonus in my 6-week Liver Lover Challenge. During the bonus calls, I’m working with participants to learn more about their habits and families before we dig into the challenge together. But I’m also helping them to identify their own patterns to create a plan unique to them, so that they can simplify their own time in the kitchen. And to make sure they are meeting their own goals, with themselves and their families, each week.
Chicken Liver Puttanesca
I am not big on pasta and I didn’t serve it for many, many years. Even now it makes only rare appearances in our home. But precisely for that reason, it’s a big treat for my kids. Truthfully, it seemed like a good way to bribe them into trying a new dish.
I made this meal because we had a bounty of fresh chicken livers and I wanted something savory and beautiful. Savory comes from the livers, for sure, but also from the anchovies, capers and olives. Always a fan of anchovies, this is a flavor profile I really love.
I opted to chop the livers in advance, and was sure to cook them lightly. (Notice the rosy centers.) This kept the livers from taking up too much intensity, but it always leads to some gooey-er bites. This is a tradeoff. I love the light flavor. I also enjoy the easy texture, but some might call it sloppy or inconsistent. Which is more of an enemy – liver flavor or texture? Act accordingly!
As always, listen to your heart. Perhaps that means starting with just 1/4 cup of liver. Perhaps it means cooking the livers much more than I did, for a stronger flavor but steady bite. Perhaps it means adding lamb or goat liver instead of chicken because that it what you have handy. Prepare Chicken Liver Puttanesca in a way that is right for you, and enjoy!
Chicken Liver Puttanesca
Ingredients
For the pasta and sauce
- 1 lb pasta of choice
- (water and salt)
- 2T butter, lard or duck fat
- 1 1.5oz jar anchovies
- 1 18.3 oz jar crushed tomatoes
- 2 t capers, rinsed
- 1 5.3oz jar pitted green olives, drained, and quartered
- 1 head parsley leaves, chopped
For the livers
- 2 T butter, lard or duck fat
- 1.5 lb chicken livers, chopped
- 1-1.5 t salt
Instructions
- Prepare pasta according to package instructions. Drain and reserve.
- Meanwhile, for the sauce, add fat to a pot on medium-high heat. As it's heating, add anchovies and mash until crumbled. Add crushed tomatoes, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Add capers and chopped olives. Allow to simmer quietly while preparing pasta.
- Meanwhile, for your livers, heat fat in a pan on medium-high heat When hot, add livers and salt and cook according to taste, stirring every minute or so. For rare livers, 2-3 minutes should suffice, depending on your heat source and size of cubes.
- When pasta, sauce and livers are all ready, combine ingredients together in the sauce pot. Mix just long enough to heat through. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.
Hi Janine,
I tried an almost identical recipe that used Ox liver sliced very thinly into matchsticks floured and quickly seared and added back to the sauce to warm through.
I like it with long pasta. Tart’s Tagliatelle, Slut’s Spaghetti or Loose-Lady Linguine. Take your pick. No one really knows why this sauce is named after the ladies of “the oldest profession” but it is a delicious sauce even without the liver.
Anything with garlic, anchovies, capers and olives will attract my attention! I very much look forward to trying this Chicken Liver version.
Paul:-)
Love this, Paul! Learn something new every day! Long strips of liver with long pasta would be a beautiful pairing (with or without the ladies). As you mention, anything with garlic, capers, anchovies and olives is sure to be a win! 🙂
Hi Janine,
Being a gay man I tend to serve the ladies on a side plate but I’ve never known any of my guests try them!
Paul:-)
Lol, love this. Shame on them for not trying “one bite to be polite.”