Modernized Sweetbread Dishes

Ingredients

• 1 pound Sweetbreads (Veal or lamb sweetbreads, cleaned and trimmed)
• 6 tablespoons Butter (Unsalted butter)
• 2 tablespoons Meat Glaze (Prepared meat glaze or demi-glace)
• 1 teaspoon Beef Extract (Such as Bovril or similar)
• 4 slices Bread (Good quality white bread)
• 0.5 cup Parmesan Cheese (Freshly grated)
• 0.25 teaspoon Salt (To taste)
• 0.25 teaspoon Paprika (To taste)
• 0.5 cup Heavy Cream
• 8 ounces Mushroom Caps (Small to medium sized, such as cremini)
• 0.25 cup Sherry Wine (Dry Sherry)
• 1 large Egg (Beaten)
• 0.5 cup Breadcrumbs (Plain breadcrumbs)
• 0.5 pound Asparagus Tips (Fresh asparagus tips)
• 2 ounces Lardons (Thin strips of pork fat)
• 0.25 teaspoon Black Pepper (Freshly ground)

Instructions

1. 1Place the sweetbreads in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. This is the parboiling step. Drain the sweetbreads and let them cool slightly.
2. 2For larded sweetbread, preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Using a larding needle, insert lardons into the upper side of the parboiled sweetbread. Place in a baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes, basting with meat glaze during the last 10 minutes, until well browned.
3. 3Cut the parboiled sweetbread into eight pieces. Heat butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook the sweetbread pieces in the butter until browned on all sides, about 5-7 minutes. Add beef extract to the pan and cook until the sweetbread has a glazed appearance, about 2 minutes. Toast bread slices using a circular cutter to make 3.5-inch rounds. In a small bowl, combine grated Parmesan cheese, salt, paprika, and heavy cream. Spread the mixture on each toast round. Arrange one piece of sweetbread on each toast. Place in individual oven-safe dishes, add 2 tablespoons of cream to each dish. Top each sweetbread with a sautéed mushroom cap (see step 5). Cover with a lid or foil and bake in a moderate oven (350°F/175°C) for 8 minutes.
4. 4Parboil the sweetbread in Sherry wine for 12 minutes (instead of water). Drain, cool, and cut into four pieces. Lard the pieces with lardons. Cook in a frying pan as described in Sweetbreads à la Napoli (step 3), browning in butter and glazing with beef extract. Peel mushroom caps, cover with Sherry wine, let stand for one hour, drain, and sauté in butter (see step 5). Arrange the sautéed mushroom caps on circular pieces of toast. Pour one teaspoon of the Sherry wine drained from the mushroom caps over each toast. Pile five or six mushroom caps on each piece of sweetbread, add two tablespoons of heavy cream, and bake in a moderate oven (350°F/175°C) for eight minutes. Cook in individual oven-safe dishes.
5. 5Clean and trim the mushroom caps. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the mushroom caps and sauté until tender and lightly browned, about 5-7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. 6Split the parboiled sweetbread and cut into pieces shaped like small cutlets or circular pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dip in breadcrumbs, then beaten egg, then breadcrumbs again. Sauté in butter in a frying pan until golden brown, about 5-7 minutes. Arrange the sweetbread cutlets in a circle around Creamed Asparagus Tips (see step 7).
7. 7Trim the asparagus tips. Steam or boil the asparagus tips until tender-crisp, about 3-5 minutes. In a saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of flour and cook for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in 1 cup of milk or cream until smooth. Simmer until thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the cooked asparagus tips to the cream sauce and stir to combine.