Roasted Sweetbreads with Belgian Endives and Truffles
Creamy endive sauce studded with truffles coats sauteed sweetbreads. A garnish of fresh endive leaves and watercress adds a little crunch to this silky dish. Note that the chef calls for chicken glaze — chicken stock reduced until it is almost jellied. You can make this yourself, or use one of the commercial preparations on the market.
Ingredients
- Sweetbreads - 2 pounds
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Clarified Butter - 2 tablespoons
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- Belgian Endives - 6 large, julienned
- Heavy (whipping) cream - 1 quart
- Truffles - 4 ounces, julienned
- Shallot - 1 tablespoon, finely chopped
- Vermouth - 1/2 cup
- Chicken Glaze - 2 tablespoons, (thickened stock)
- Belgian Endive - 1, cleaned and separated into individual leaves
- Watercress - 1 bunch, cleaned and stemmed
Instructions
Soak the sweetbreads in cold water overnight in the refrigerator. Drain the sweetbreads and blanch them in fresh water with half of the lemon juice. Drain again and set aside to cool. Preheat the oven to 450 F. Heat an ovenproof saute pan and add 1 tablespoon of clarified butter. Season the sweetbreads with salt and pepper and saute until brown on both sides. Place the pan in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
Season the endives with salt and pepper and saute in the remaining clarified butter and lemon juice. After about 1 minute, add half the cream to the endives and briefly reduce. Add the truffles and simmer to reduce until slightly thickened.
Take the sweetbreads out of the oven and remove from the pan. Set aside; keep warm. Drain the fat from the pan and add the shallots. Add the vermouth and stir up the glaze from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the chicken glaze. Reduce for 1 minute. Add the remaining cream and reduce until the mixture coats a spoon. Combine the endive mixture with the reduced sauce and, if necessary, reduce again until thickened enough to coat a spoon. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
To serve: Place the sweetbreads on warmed serving plates. Spoon endive sauce on top of the sweetbreads and garnish with additional whole endive leaves and fresh watercress.
