Lambs' kidneys villandry
4 Servings
Ingredients
| Quantity | Ingredient | |
|---|---|---|
| Stephen Ceideburg | ||
| 8 | Lamb Kidneys | |
| 200 | grams | Minced pork or chicken |
| 1 | small | Egg yolk |
| 1 | pinch | Quatre-epices |
| 200 | grams | Pate de foie |
| 4 | Rashers bacon | |
| 100 | millilitres | Brandy |
| 100 | millilitres | Creme fraiche |
Directions
This is a slightly simplified version of a recipe from the bible of French cookery, Cuisine et vins de France, by Curnonsky, the French gastronome and bon viveur born in 1872.
Skin 8 lambs' kidneys, split them in half and core, keeping the halves in pairs.
Mix 200 g minced pork or chicken with 1 small egg yolk, and a pinch of quatre-epices (nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and pepper). Have ready 200 g pate de foie. Remove rinds from 4 rashers of bacon and cut them in half.
Take each pair of kidney halves and put a thick layer (about 1 cm) of the mince mixture on the inside of one half and a thick layer of the pate de foie on the other. Sandwich the stuffed halves together gently, wrap in half a bacon rasher and secure with one or more toothpicks. Lay the bacon and kidney parcels in a lightly oiled dish which can go from oven to top of the stove and bake in a very hot oven for 10-20 minutes or until cooked through.
Transfer the parcels to a heated serving dish and put the baking dish on a hot plate. Deglaze the dish With 100 mL brandy and boil hard to reduce. Thicken with 100 mL creme fraiche or sour cream (or use evaporated skim milk mixed with a little cornflour), taste and season if necessary and pour over the kidneys. Serve.
Posted by Stephen Ceideburg
From an article by Meryl Constance in The Sydney Morning Herald, 6/22/93. Courtesy Mark Herron.