Gather In My Name

The family always rave about  Mozza's Chicken Liver Brushcette and the Calamari Al Forno whenever they talk about Italian food.  They also like Mozza's pizzas, especially the  Funghi misti, fontina, taleggio, thyme pizza and the Egg,bacon,Yukon gold potato, Bcippolini onions pizza.
Though the food is excellent, I find some are overpriced, especially the chicken liver brushette and the calamari al forno with fagioli , oregano. While I am still attempting to do a closer version of the calamari al forno, I manage to find a good chicken liver bruschette recipe that taste very much like Mozza's bruschette. Of course there is no way I can make the pizzas like them.

Chicken Liver Bruschette and Calamari Al Forno

Egg,bacon,Yukon potato and Bcippolini onions

Funghi Misti 

Mozza Chicken Liver Bruschette 
 Recipe Noelle Carter, LA Times

Ingredients
1 pound (450g) chicken livers
Coarse salt and finely ground pepper
3/4 cup best quality olive oil, divided, more as needed
2 ounces (60g) pancetta, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped'
2 tablespoons brandy
2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
2 tablespoons capers (preferably salt-pack), rinsed and drained
1 lemon, zest finely grated, and 1 tablespoon juice



Method

• Clean the livers: Use a small knife to remove the connective veins from the chicken livers and discard the veins. Line a large plate with paper towels. Place the chicken livers on the paper towels and pat them with a wad of paper towels to get out the excess moisture. Season the livers very generously with salt and pepper, gently massaging in the seasoning with your hands.
• In a large saute pan heated over high heat until it is almost smoking, add one fourth cup olive oil. One by one, add the chicken livers. Adding one at a time prevents the pan from cooling too much, and it ensures you will have room for all of the livers because they shrink immediately when they hit the pan, allowing more to fit. Cook the livers until they're a deep brown, about 2 minutes on each side.

• Add the pancetta to the pan with the livers, reduce the heat to low, and continue to cook until the pancetta fat is rendered, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until aromatic, about 1 minute.
• Stir in the brandy, shaking the pan to deglaze, and cook the brandy for about 30 seconds. remove the pan from heat.
• Dump the contents of the pan onto a large cutting board, making sure to get all the flavourful bits from the bottom of the pan. Pile the parsley, shallots, capers and lemon zest on top of the chicken livers and drizzle over it the lemon juice and one-fourth cup oil.

• Chop everything together coarsely with a large knife. Drizzle over another one-fourth cup oli ve oil and continue to chop, regathering the ingredients into a mould from time to time. Continue to chop until the livers are the consistency of coarse paste, almost pureed but with more texture. Add additional olive oil as needed; the livers should be moist and glistening but not so loose the pate won't stand up.

Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate before using. At Mozza, the pate is served as bruschette over crostini ( toasted bread brushed with a little olive oil and rubbed with garlic cloves ) and topped with guanciale; (unsmoked Italian bacon from the jowl of a hog) they also recommend serving it topped with pancetta or a sprig of parsley. The pate can be made up to a couple of days in advance; bring to room temperature before serving.

Note: For the crostini, I used plain baguette, sliced, drizzzle with olive oil and toast in hot oven 200C for 15 minutes. Rub in garlic and place half tablespoon of pate on each toast and garnish with Italian parsley. Makes about 35 small serving. The cost of making this is about S$12( US$9.75). The bruschette at Mozza is S18 (US$14.60) for 6 small servings

Teachers' Meeting

The Sunday school Lead Teachers will be having their meeting this coming Sunday.  The purpose of this meeting is to have an overall  plan for 2013 and how to reach out to Parents, Co-Teachers and Children.
Each of the Lead Teachers is to present her expected goals for her team and children

For my class, I have drawn a goal for the children to be able to recite any two bible verses anytime, anywhere. Most of them are able to recite John 3:16 only. They are also to recite The Ten Commandments in order.

As for my 3 co teachers who are unable to teach every week due to family and work commitments, I pray I can gather everyone to pray for one another and  for the class.  There is also a need to discuss individual needs and well being of each child.

'For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."          Matthew 18:20