Dining and Cooking
Chefs’ Collections

Sweetbreads With Mushrooms and Cherries

Hearth Restaurant recently held a dinner featuring modestly priced Burgundy wines. Among the dishes paired with them were sautéed sweetbreads served on scrambled eggs seasoned with black truffles.Sweetbreads are a superb choice with red Burgundies. I wanted to pick up the cherry flavors that showed up in the Côte Chalonnaise wines we tasted, so I skipped the eggs and instead added dried cherries.There is a certain amount of preliminary preparation — soaking, peeling and poaching — required before sweetbreads are ready to cook. Some recipes also call for pressing them, but I think that just makes them dry, which they certainly are not in this pinot noir-friendly dish.

Ingredients

  • 1 ⅓ pounds sweetbreads
  • Salt
  • 1 lemon
  • ½ cup dried cherries
  • ⅓ cup dry red wine
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 ½ ounces pancetta, in one slice, diced
  • ½ cup finely chopped onion
  • 24 very small cremini mushrooms, stems removed
  • ⅔ cup chicken stock
  • 1 tablespoon minced tarragon
  • Nutritional Information
    • Nutritional analysis per serving (3 servings)

      786 calories; 55 grams fat; 21 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 19 grams monounsaturated fat; 9 grams polyunsaturated fat; 37 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 21 grams sugars; 31 grams protein; 480 milligrams cholesterol; 375 milligrams sodium

      • Note: Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available data.

4 first-course, 3 main-dish servings

Preparation

  1. Rinse sweetbreads under cold running water. Dissolve 1 tablespoon salt in 2 cups cold water in a 2-quart bowl. Add juice of 1/2 lemon. Add sweetbreads; water should cover them. Soak 1 to 2 hours. Place cherries in a dish, add wine and set aside at least 2 hours.
  2. Remove sweetbreads from water and use a sharp knife to peel off translucent membrane and remove any bits of fat. If sweetbreads separate into sections, that is fine. Place sweetbreads in a saucepan, cover with cold water, add almost all remaining lemon juice, bring to a slow simmer and poach 15 minutes. Allow to cool in liquid, then refrigerate until ready to use.
  3. Remove sweetbreads from liquid. Separate into 1- to 2-inch nuggets. Pat dry. Season flour with salt and pepper and dust sweetbreads. Melt butter in a 12-inch skillet or sauté pan with a cover. Very lightly brown sweetbreads. Remove to a dish. Add pancetta and onion to skillet. Sauté on medium-low until starting to color. Add mushrooms and sauté until softened. Add cherries with wine, and stock. Stir to deglaze pan. Bring to a simmer, add sweetbreads, baste with sauce.
  4. Cover and simmer gently 10 minutes. Season sauce with remaining juice of lemon and salt and pepper. Baste sweetbreads again, add tarragon and serve.

30 minutes

Dining and Cooking