Fettuccine Roma-style, with chicken livers and wild mushrooms
( Fettuccine alla romana )

Recipe for fettuccine, Roma style

Preparation

• - Prepare mushrooms.
  Soak dried mushrooms in cold water, about 2 hours.
• - Prepare all ingredients.
  Peel, wash and chop onion.
  Wash, pat dry with aborbent kitchen paper and cube chicken livers.
  Drain and squeeze mushrooms. Cut into little pieces if large.
  Peel garlic clove.

Cooking

• - Cook chicken livers.
  Melt butter in a little saucepan on very low heat.
  Brown chicken livers on all sides.
  Pour in wine and let it evaporate over a medium heat.
  Season to taste with salt and cook until reduced.
• - Prepare fettuccine sauce.
  In another saucepan heat oil and brown onion and garlic lightly.
  Remove garlic clove and add mushrooms.
  Cook them stirring now and then with a wooden spoon, some minutes.
  Pour in puréed tomatoes.
  Season to taste with salt and cook, half-covered, over a low heat, 15 to 20 minutes.
  At the end add chicken livers, stir and simmer, few minutes.
• - Cook pasta.
  Meanwhile cook fettuccine following the instructions on the package.
  Drain and dress them with hot sauce in a large bowl.

Just before serving

• - Serve your fettuccine dish hot, accompanied by a little bowl full of grated Parmesan.

Note

Tips

• - The best pasta is fresh egg fettuccine but you can also use dried one.
• - My quicker, light version. I don't use butter and garlic and prepare this fettuccine sauce in a different way. In fact I make only one pasta sauce mixing directly mushrooms with chicken livers. I don't use garlic because I think its flavor covers the taste of many ingredients. I prefer dishes lower in fat, this is the reason why I don't use butter.
  I put olive oil, onion and a bay leaf (which is ideal for mushrooms) in a pan. After frying onion lightly, I add mushrooms and chicken livers. I let them flavor, stirring now and then for few minutes, and then add puréed tomatoes (I sometimes use canned peeled tomatoes too), wine and even some herbs that are not used in the original recipe (2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, and a teaspoon of dried marjoram). I season to taste with salt and continue cooking over medium heat, half-covered, for 15-20 minutes or until the sauce is well reduced.
  I have to guess you that for my family I avoid frying for healthy eating and so I modify further this recipe.
  I stew onion in a little water. Then add bay leaf, mushrooms, chicken livers, puréed tomatoes, wine and aromatic herbs as I've just described above. I season to taste with salt and cook, half-covered, over a medium heat, about 15-20 minutes or until reduced. I add olive oil only when I transfer fettuccine into the sauce. So I can preserve all the properties of olive oil. They taste fantastic, without any doubt.
  In fact a day I forgot to saute onion on olive oil and I have guests but nobody noticed anything ... indeed they enjoyed my pasta dish!

Menu planning

• - Romann fettuccine is a traditional pasta dish we Italians combine with other classical recipes for typical menus, Italian-style.
  Here's an idea of mine. Links to suggested recipes or directories below, in the next paragraph!
  Aperitivo: serve canapés or mini pizzas or other finger foods with aperitif.
  First course: this fettuccine dish.
  Second course: pot roast or lamb recipe or saltimbocca alla romana accompanied by a side dish with seasonal vegetables.
  Dessert: fruit tart or fruit salad with ice-cream on top ... I think you can find a perfect cake or dessert in our pages.

Useful links for this recipe

• - Follow the links, if you are interested in canapés, pizza recipes and Italian finger foods!
• - In Italy lamb meat is cooked in a lot of regions and so there are many tasty recipes. Have a look at our directory if you like this kind of meat to find your favorite version!
  If you prefer veal meat, this is the recipe for saltimbocca, Roma-style.
• - Here's the directory of Italian cakes and desserts!

Healthy eating

• - If you read nutrition facts of this fettuccine dish you can agree with me it is a perfect one-plate meal for your lunch. Complete your meal with fresh fruit.
• - If you prepare it for a full menu for your get-togethers, you don't worry about calories, fat ... It's a special occasion, a rare event ... isn't it?
• - If you follow my version without butter, you save 38 calories and just over 4 grams of total fat. The most important thing is to lower saturated fat ;)
• - I calculate nutrition facts without grated Parmesan.

Loretta

What's the right wine for " Fettuccine Roma-style, with chicken livers and wild mushrooms "?

My husband and I generally pair Frascati (red wine from Latium).

A little history

Fettuccine is a traditional dish of Roman cuisine. But it's a kind of fresh or dry pasta dish well known all over the world.
Fettuccine can be dressed with a lot of sauces based on meat, vegetables, cheese or fish. A very tasty dish with cheap ingredients.
The most famous Roman recipes are: ricotta fettuccine, "papalina" fettuccine and so on.