Liberace’s Chicken Liver and Caper Canape

Liberace Week rolls on!

I love the way this recipe sounds. There’s almost a lilting melody to it.

Say it out loud: Liberace’s Chicken Liver and Caper Canape!

But before I get to the recipe, I want to point out how great this cookbooks is. No, not the cookbook in general, I mean this copy in particular. My mum discovered ebay sometime in 2013, so Christmas Day went something like this:

My brother: Cool. Very cool.

Mum: You like it? I got it on ebay.

My dad: Oh my. However did you find it?

Mum: Ebay. I got into a little bit of a bidding war. I didn’t think I’d get it!

Me: Oh my god! Liberace Cooks!?!?

Mum: EBAY! EBAY! EBAY!

Aside from me getting my hands on a copy of Liberace Cooks! the best part of this Christmas was that this photo of my dad happened:

All thanks to EBAY!

My copy of Liberace Cooks! is a library book. And for a library book, it is in stellar condition. Original jacket with minimal wear!

It’s from the Weaver Library, part of the Los Angeles County Public Library System. And, according to the date stamps on the inside cover, it was checked out at least 30 times.

So. Cool. I love it when you can trace where a cookbook came from, or who may have owned it previously.

And now, onto the dish!

This selection was a no-brainer for me. I love capers. I love chicken livers. And, like I said, I love a good canape***.

So I had my heart set on it. Besides, the Safeway ALWAYS has chicken livers in stock.

Except for when they don’t. Which was Saturday afternoon. I didn’t have time to go to another grocery store because I was going to see the O’s play. So, on a Saturday night, after 11 pm, I set out to another grocery store in search of chicken livers. I found the caviar there. But the little livers were nowhere to be found.

So I went to yet another grocery store, right before midnight. There, I finally found the chicken livers (and a giant veal chop that I am going to try to finagle into 53. Stuffed Breast of Veal). I was tempted to buy a second container, but since I only used half for this dish, I froze the rest. I got chicken livers for a rainy day!  And Liberace does have a chicken Livers in Champagne recipe that looks intriguing…

But anyway, after a supermarket tour of Baltimore I had everything to make this recipe from the Room With A View chapter in Liberace Cooks!

Liberace’s Chicken Liver and Caper Canape

• 3 tablespoons minced onion
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 2 tablespoon white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound chicken livers, chopped fine
• 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons capers

Saute the onion in butter until transparent. Add the broth and simmer 2 minutes.Add the wine, salt, and livers and cook and stir for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the drained capers. Chill. Serve with crackers, toast, or thin dark bread.

It may not look like much, but: This. Was. Great.

No lie. Delicious. And, aside from the “fine chopping,” this was pretty straightforward, simple, and easy to clean up afterwards.

Fun fact: On Sunday Funday, Manny made fried chicken livers and onions, too! What are the odds that we’d both make chicken livers on the same day? Was that too much liver? Nah. Not for us. Maybe we’re all just iron-deficient and have the craving. We need the liver! Like Rosemary from Rosemary’s Baby.

No, not the new one. But the great one with Mia Farrow and her Vidal Sassoon haircut.

Apparently Polanski made the poor dear (who was a vegetarian) eat raw chicken liver. But look at that great cookbook in the background! I want it.

Anyway, thank you, Liberace, for another great recipe.

And is anyone else watching the NBC Rosemary’s Baby? Thoughts???

***Except for when I don’t. You want to hear a sad, silly, and quintessential Emily dating story? Click here and feel the embarrassment through your computer. It’s a doozy.