brandied
kidneys
go straight to the recipe

Remembering where this recipe came from always makes me smile. I must have been all of eighteen with a boyfriend at least twenty years my senior and dining at Ernest’s at the Weir, [now the River Torrens Cafè and The Red Ochre Barrel + Grill]. I vaguely remember that it was a lot of plush red velvet and shiny gold with stiffly starched white tablecloths and waiters in dinner suits. Memory can be tricky but that’s my lasting impression.

I didn’t even know how to make a coffee or for that matter a sandwich and for some bizarre reason, which I guess was an attempt to show how sophisticated I was, asked Ernest for the recipe. Even more bizarre was that years later I remembered the recipe, tried it out and wrote it down. Made a la minute and served with a freshly cooked cornmeal pancake it was a favourite with our offal loving following.

In those days, the early 80s we were lucky enough to get the milk-fed veal kidneys and today one is extremely lucky to occasionally find some spanking fresh lambs’ kidneys. My kitchen does not use frozen offal of any kind.

AO 24 JUNE 2023

go on
you'll
love them

4 lambs or 1 veal kidney, split horizontally, all fat and vein removed and cut into about 15-20mm pieces
100g unsalted butter, divided roughly into halves
splash of Brandy
50g p/w shallot, very finely chopped
5g p/w garlic, very finely chopped
black pepper, freshly and coarsely ground
200g Olive’s Tomato Sauce [1]
65g Mutti Organic Tomato Paste

Maldon sea salt
handful of parsley, stalked and chopped….curly is best if you have it

serve with a la minute cornmeal pancakes or plain steamed rice

GET THAT PAN VERY
HOT!!!

Pre heat a very heavy based skillet add one half of the butter and very quickly brown the kidneys on all sides. Add the splash of Brandy, ignite, stir through and as soon as it has evaporated remove the kidneys from the pan.

Turn the heat down and add the remaining half of the butter and when it is foaming add the shallot and garlic. Season generously with pepper. Cook gently until the shallot is translucent and lightly coloured. Add the tomato sauce and tomato paste and stir until combined.

Drain the juices from the kidneys and add them to the pan and stir in until combined. Add the kidneys and continue cooking stirring them over until they are cooked through.

Taste and add salt as required and additional freshly ground pepper, stir through the parsley and serve immediately.

[1] Not everyone has crates of home-made sauce my only substitute, which will be slightly different in the end product is the MUTTI chopped tomatoes made from the best ever tomato the Manzanillo. I have always detested tomato paste and only recently discovered their organic tomato paste. Not expensive it is brilliant.

ugly
delicious

ABOVE READY TO SERVE…PLEASE DON’T REHEAT, LIKE PANCAKES THIS IS AN A LA MINUTE DISH, COOKED AND EATEN

"

not everyone's

idea of
fabulous…but!!

Offal groupies there will be many more dishes coming over the next six months. To stay tuned either follow Ann Oliver on Facebook or use the link below to subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

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