I paid a visit to my favorite butcher shop this afternoon, and was excited to find they had veal sweetbreads in stock. As I've mentioned before, sweetbreads are my favorite food. I really wanted to make this dinner special. I spent the a few hours thinking about how I could combine what's in my fridge to create a really unique and tasty dish. For the past two weeks, my CSA box was filled with plums and we haven't had the chance to eat them, so I decided to make a spiced plum compote and then reduce that compote as a sauce for the sweetbreads. That seemed special enough to me.
Spiced Plum Compote
Ingredients:
10 plums (cut in half)
3 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
2 cardamon pods
1 cup of water
1 tbsp raw honey
Process:
1. Place all ingredients in a pot or dutch oven
2. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 1hr
Smokey Crispy Sweetbreads with Spiced Plum Sauce & Tangy Broccolini
Ingredients:
1lb Veal Sweetbreads
1/8 cup chestnut flour
1 tsp smoked paprika
3 tsp Celtic salt
1/2 tsp Hungarian paprika
1 tbsp ghee
1 bunch broccolini
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
Process:
1. Earlier in the day, bring a pot of water to boil and cook sweetbreads for 20 minutes
2. Remove sweetbreads and place in a airtight container to cool for several hours
2. Later, place 2 tsp salt, paprika, and chestnut flour in a bowl and add sweetbreads and mix
3. Heat ghee in a pan and add sweetbreads
4. Cook for 5-6 minutes
5. In another pan, steam broccolini for about 10 minutes or until desired texture
6. While sweetbreads & broccolini are cooking, take 1/2 cup of spiced plum compote and reduce on high heat until thickened (10-12 minutes), stir often to prevent burning
6. Lay sweetbreads over sauce on plate with broccolini on the side
7. Enjoy!
