A great Touraine classic bringing together veal sweetbreads and kidneys, morels, and a creamed veal stock sauce. The offal is prepared and cooked separately to keep the sweetbreads golden and tender, the kidneys still supple, and the sauce reduced, velvety, and deeply flavorful.
Ingredients
- 600 g fresh veal sweetbreads
- 400 g fresh veal kidneys
- 35 g dried morels
- 250 ml heavy cream
- 180 ml white veal stock
- 120 ml dry Loire white wine
- 80 g shallots
- 80 g unsalted butter
- 20 g wheat flour
- 1 piece lemon
- 10 g fresh flat-leaf parsley
- to taste fine salt
- to taste ground white pepper
Method
- Soak the veal sweetbreads in a large container of very cold water, ideally changing the water until it remains clear. This step can be started the day before.
- Place the sweetbreads in a pot of cold, lightly salted water. Gradually bring to a simmer, maintain a gentle simmer for a few minutes, then immediately plunge them into ice water.
- Drain the sweetbreads. Carefully remove the membrane, small vessels, and bloody parts without tearing the lobes. Wrap them in a clean cloth, place a board and a light weight on top, and let them firm up in the refrigerator.
- Place the morels in a container, cover them with warm water, and let them rehydrate. Lift them out with your fingers rather than pouring out the contents of the container, as the sand stays at the bottom. Rinse them individually in several changes of water, then drain.
- Very carefully strain the morel soaking water through a coffee filter or cheesecloth. Reserve only the perfectly clear part.
- Open the kidneys following their lobes. Completely remove the central fat, white nerves, and ducts, then cut the meat into even pieces. Pat them meticulously dry and keep them in the refrigerator.
- Finely mince the shallots. Sweat them without browning in a saucepan with some of the butter and a pinch of salt.
- Add the white wine and reduce until almost dry. Pour in the white veal stock and a little of the strained morel water. Reduce over medium heat until you have a concentrated, glossy base.
- Add the heavy cream. Let simmer gently until the sauce clearly coats the back of a spoon. It should remain fluid and velvety, never thick like a béchamel.
- Sauté the morels in a skillet with a little butter. Cook them long enough to ensure they are fully cooked, then stir them into the cream sauce. Keep this sauce at a very bare simmer.
- Cut the pressed sweetbreads into thick, even pieces. Season them, dust them very lightly with flour, then carefully shake off the excess.
- Foam a portion of the butter in a large skillet. Add the pieces of sweetbread without crowding them and patiently brown them on each side. Baste regularly with the foaming butter until they develop an even, blonde crust around a tender center.
- Remove the sweetbreads and let them rest briefly. Wipe the skillet if the butter has browned too much.
- Heat the skillet over high heat with the remaining butter. Sear the kidney pieces in a single layer, without tossing them immediately. Turn them when they are well browned, then quickly finish cooking so they remain supple and slightly pink in the center.
- Remove the kidneys immediately. Deglaze the skillet with a small ladle of sauce, scrape up the fond, and pour this juice back into the saucepan.
- Adjust the sauce with salt, white pepper, and a few drops of lemon juice. It should be round, slightly tart, and concentrated enough to coat the offal.
- Return the veal sweetbreads to the morel sauce and reheat them very gently. Add the kidneys at the last moment, without boiling, so as not to cook them further.
- Divide the sweetbreads, kidneys, and morels among hot shallow bowls. Coat with the cream sauce and finish with the finely chopped flat-leaf parsley.
Nutrition
Per serving
- Energy
- 693 kcal
- Protein
- 56.45 g
- Carbohydrate
- 14.66 g
- Fat
- 42.64 g
- Fibre
- 2.63 g
- Calcium
- 45.12 mg
- Iron
- 7.96 mg
- Magnesium
- 59.17 mg
