Cibrèo

This refined, classic Florentine dish could be served as antipasto or a main, here the proportions for four would make it a main dish. The main ingredient here is chicken offal, and of these the most important is the cockscomb or crest and possibly the wattle (the fleshy hanging part under the beak) if available. This recipe is adapted from Paolo Petroni's Il Libro della Vera Cucina Italiana.

Credit: Emiko Davies

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  40 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 1 cockscomb and wattle
• 1 ½ tbsp of butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4-6 leaves of sage
• 1 small onion, finely sliced or chopped
• 60 ml (¼ cup) dry white wine
• 120 g chicken livers, halved
• flour for dusting
• 70 g chicken hearts, halved lengthways
• 70 g rooster testicles
• grating of fresh nutmeg
• 250 ml of stock
• 2 egg yolks
• juice of ½ lemon

Instructions

1. Blanch the crest and wattle in boiling water for a minute or two then remove, and when cool enough to handle, scrape off the fine, papery skin, then chop into bite sized pieces.
2. In a pan, melt the butter with olive oil over low heat and add the sage and onion, cooking until the onion is translucent and softened but not coloured, about 5-7 minutes, then turn up the heat to low-medium, add the crest and wattle, followed by the white wine and cook for 15 minutes.
3. Dust the livers in flour to cover, then add them together with the hearts and testicles, to the pan. Season with salt, freshly ground pepper and nutmeg and continue cooking for another 15 minutes, adding stock to the pan as you need to keep braising the chicken.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the yolks and lemon juice. Add a splash of stock too, then pour it over the pan and stir gently for a minute to allow the yolk to thicken then serve immediately with more freshly ground black pepper and plenty of crusty bread to mop up the sauce.

 

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.