Veal sweetbreads, or mollejas as they’re known in Spanish-speakingcountries, are two separate glands. One is the thymus (located in the cow’sthroat) and the other is the pancreas (which comes from the heart of thestomach). Sweetbreads are soft and creamy in texture and, if you cook themproperly, reveal a really delicate flavour. Whenever I have the chance and they’re in season andat their best, I’ll try to sneak them onto the menu…This recipe is how we payhomage to sweetbreads at M. restaurants. We juice the carrots for the freshest flavour when making the carrot sauce.If you have a juicer you will need about 250g carrots to get 125ml juice.
Serves 4
Ingredients
350g veal sweetbreads, trimmed, anyblood washed away and soaked incold water to cover for 1 hour
60g butter
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
60g goat’s curds
Toasted walnuts, crushed,to garnish
Walnut oil, to drizzle
Carrot sauce
125ml carrot juice
60ml chicken stock
60g butter, diced
Glazed baby carrots
8 baby carrots, scrubbed with the topsremoved and saved for garnishing
100g butter, diced
3 tablespoons dry white wine
4 thyme sprigs, plus extra to garnish
Method
Glazed baby carrots
First make the carrot sauce. Put the carrot juice and chicken stock in a saucepanover a high heat and bring to the boil. Continue boiling until the liquid reduces bythree-quarters, then reduce the heat and whisk in the butter to give a good shine.Season with salt and pepper to taste, then set aside.To glaze the baby carrots, put the carrots, butter, wine and 4 thyme sprigs in alarge sauté pan over a high heat and bring to the boil, stirring to melt the butter.Reduce the heat to medium and continue simmering until the carrots are tenderand the liquid has reduced to a glaze. Season with salt and pepper to taste, thencover and keep hot.
Veal sweetbreads
Drain the sweetbreads and pat them dry with kitchen paper. Melt the butter withthe oil in a large sauté pan over a medium heat and pan-fry the sweetbreads untilthey are golden brown and crispy. Remove from the pan and drain on kitchenpaper, then season with salt and pepper to taste.Meanwhile, reheat the carrot sauce.
To serve
Divide the goat’s curds among 4 plates. Top with the sweetbreads andarrange the glazed carrots around. Spoon the carrot sauce around the plates,then garnish each with the walnuts and reserved carrot tops. Drizzle with walnutoil and serve immediately.
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