This is my take on one of my favourite Spanish dishes 'Riñones al Jerez', or kidneys with sherry. Whilst I was living in Spain this turned out to be really versatile, in that it makes a great tapa, a substantial starter or a lovely comfort food supper.
Ensure you get nice fresh kidneys, with all of the fat trimmed off (your butcher will do this for you). Kidneys are a really tasty piece of offal, and are cheap too - usually only around 60c each!
Ensure you get nice fresh kidneys, with all of the fat trimmed off (your butcher will do this for you). Kidneys are a really tasty piece of offal, and are cheap too - usually only around 60c each!
Ingredients
- 6 lambs kidneys
- Handful of smoked bacon lardons
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 100g closed cut mushrooms, thickly sliced
- 2 tbs sherry vinegar
- 2 tbs olive oil
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped
- 2 tbs crème fraîche
- Salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Method
- To prepare the kidneys, first make sure you take off the thin membrane that covers them - you'll know if this is still on as the kidneys will look greyish in appearance - once removed you'll see them in all their lovely plummy shininess! After that, cut the kidneys lengthways, snip out the white cores with scissors (these can be quite tough to eat), and cut the kidneys in half again, giving you quarters. Place these on a plate and cover in the lemon juice to marinate a little.
- In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil over a medium high heat and add the bacon. After a couple of minutes add the garlic & fry for a further minute.
- Add the mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes, until they soften.
- Pour in the kidneys, including the lemon juice and cook for 5 minutes, stirring gently (don't kill the kidneys!).
- When the kidneys have started to lose their pinkness, add the sherry vinegar and again stir to combine all those lovely flavours.
- Throw in the parsley and and salt & black pepper to taste.
- After a minute or so, take off the heat a add a good dollop of crème fraîche. Stir this in to give a nice rich sauce.
- Serve with lovely thick slices of toasted ciabatta.
This dish tastes lovely with a nice glass of Rioja - my favourites with kidneys are Campo Viejo or Marqués de Cáceres Reserva. Enjoy!
2 comments:
That's quite courageous dish. I must admit I've never eaten kidneys. Tripe yes.
Looking at the picture makes me want to cook one right away! LOL! Aside from lamb, veal kidneys would do great too. The taste would depend on how you cook it, of course. :) Also, you can use red wine vinegar as an alternative for sherry vinegar.
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