The recipe
Peel the thin membrane of skin from the outside of 6 lamb’s kidneys, put each one flat on the table and slice in half horizontally. Snip out the white core – which toughens inedibly on cooking – and cut each half in two. Now rinse them painstakingly in a sieve under cold, running water. Drain the kidneys and pat them dry with kitchen paper. Have ready 2 rounds of thick, crisp toast. Thinly slice 100g of small mushrooms, then quarter 100g of cherry tomatoes.
Melt 40g of butter in a shallow pan and toss the kidneys in a bowl with about 40g of flour and some salt and black pepper. As the butter starts to froth, drop in the floured kidneys and let them cook for a minute or two without moving them. A little brown crust will form. Turn them over and continue cooking for a minute, then introduce the mushrooms. Toss the mixture around a little, then, while they are sizzling and browning in the butter, add the tomatoes and pour in a good slosh or two of Madeira. Leave at a high bubble for a couple of minutes for the alcohol to burn off, then pour in 75-100ml of chicken or beef stock.
Once the liquid is simmering around the kidneys and mushrooms, stir in 1-2 tbsp of mild mustard – a little more or less as you like – then, as the mixture is reducing in the pan, add 75ml of double cream. Leave to simmer for a minute or two, then serve the kidneys, spooning the sauce over both them and the toast. A little chopped parsley, fresh and bright, wouldn’t go amiss.
The trick
Take pains to thoroughly snip out the white core of the kidneys with a pair of scissors or small knife. It is tough and inedible. Keep the heat quite high, so the kidneys cook quickly.
The twist
Instead of kidneys use chestnut mushrooms instead. Cut each into thick slices, about 3 per mushroom. In place of the small button mushrooms, increase the tomatoes to 200g. Use tarragon instead of the parsley, but add it earlier, when you add the Madeira. And if Madeira proves illusive, use Marsala instead.
Read more at theguardian.com
