Chicken Liver Pâté on Crostini with a Glass of Chianti

Roman cooks have famously made delicious use of the quinto quarto, or fifth quarter of butchered animals—that is, the organs that were cheap and readily available to the city’s poorer residents. With the right care, such ingredients are extravagant in their own right. Take chicken livers, which I have long loved to blend into a smooth, creamy spread.

There was a time in my life when I’d “steal” things as I left Boat Street, my first restaurant, because I was too tired to cook