Veal sweetbread with celeriac ‘risotto’, wild mushrooms and tarragon
If you're out to impress with a restaurant-quality dish, look no further than Tom Booton's veal sweetbreads with celeriac, wild mushrooms and tarragon. The celeriac is cleverly cooked three ways: finely sliced into sheets and pickled; blitzed into a creamy purée and finely diced and cooked like a risotto with the purée folded back through it. If you've not cooked sweetbreads before the method is simple – pan-fried, basted in butter and glazed with a good quality veal jus, which can often be found in good butchers.
Ingredients
- 1 celeriac , around 1.2kg
Pickled celeriac sheets
- 100ml of water
- 100ml of white wine vinegar
- 50g of caster sugar
- 1 pinch of fine sea salt
Celeriac purée
- 200ml of whole milk
- 50ml of water
- 75g of butter
- 1 pinch of fine sea salt
Celeriac ‘risotto’
- 1 dash of olive oil
- 1 banana shallot , finely diced
- 1 garlic clove , finely diced
- 4 spring onions , finely sliced
- 25g of tarragon leaves , chopped
- 25g of chopped chives
- 50g of Parmesan , finely grated
- 20g of butter
- 5g of cider vinegar
- fine sea salt to taste
Veal sweetbreads
- 300g of veal sweetbreads , trimmed of any sinew
- 50g of butter
- 80g of veal jus , or beef jus
- 1 pinch of fine sea salt
- 1 dash of vegetable oil
Wild mushrooms
- 150g of wild mushrooms , such as girolles, black trompettes or ceps
- 1 shallot , finely diced
- 20g of butter
- 10g of Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar
- 1 dash of vegetable oil
To serve
- 1 handful of small tarragon leaves
Equipment
- Blender
- Mandoline
Method
Begin by pickling the celeriac sheets. Peel the celeriac and use a mandoline to create 4 round sheets, as thin as possible (reserve the rest of the celeriac for the other elements of the dish). Place the pickle liquor ingredients in a pan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Take off the heat and add the celeriac sheets, leaving them to pickle
- 1 celeriac , around 1.2kg
- 100ml of water
- 100ml of white wine vinegar
- 50g of caster sugar
- 1 pinch of fine sea salt
To make the celeriac purée, square off the celeriac into a cube until you have 400g of trimmings. Set the cube of celeriac aside, then finely dice the 400g of trimmings and place in a pan with the milk, water, butter and pinch of salt. Simmer for 10–15 minutes or until the celeriac is very soft, then transfer to a blender and blitz until very smooth. Taste and season, then cover and reserve in the fridge
- 200ml of whole milk
- 50ml of water
- 75g of butter
- 1 pinch of fine sea salt
Dice the cube of celeriac into very small pieces, around the same size as rice grains. You can use a food processor to help with this but work carefully with the pulse setting. Blanch the celeriac in salted boiling water for 2 minutes then drain and cool down quickly in iced water. Drain and spread the celeriac out over a clean tea towel or kitchen roll to dry the pieces as much as possible
Place a large pan over a medium heat with a dash of oil and once hot, add the shallot and garlic and cook until soft with no colour. Add the celeriac dice to the pan with a pinch of salt and increase the heat. Cook for a few minutes until the celeriac just starts to take on a tiny bit of colour
- 1 dash of olive oil
- 1 banana shallot , finely diced
- 1 garlic clove , finely diced
- fine sea salt to taste
Add a splash of water and a couple of tablespoons of the celeriac purée, then turn the heat down to medium and continue cooking. Keep tasting until the celeriac is cooked, adding more purée if needed. You want it cooked through, but still with each ‘grain’ mostly holding its shape and with a little bite – like a risotto. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and keep warm whilst you cook the sweetbreads
- 4 spring onions , finely sliced
- 25g of tarragon leaves , chopped
- 25g of chopped chives
- 50g of Parmesan , finely grated
- 20g of butter
- 5g of cider vinegar
Season the sweetbreads all over. Place a pan over a high heat and, once smoking hot, add a dash of oil and carefully place the sweetbreads into the pan. Colour on each side for 3–4 minutes. Meanwhile, place the veal jus in a small pan and heat through
- 300g of veal sweetbreads , trimmed of any sinew
- 1 pinch of fine sea salt
- 1 dash of vegetable oil
- 80g of veal jus , or beef jus
Once coloured all over, add the butter to the sweetbreads. As it begins to foam, start basting. Cook for a further 4 minutes then add a few spoonfuls of the hot veal jus and continue basting until the sauce reduces into a nice shiny glaze which clings to the sweetbreads. Remove from the pan and leave to rest somewhere warm whilst you cook the mushrooms
- 50g of butter
Place a small frying pan over a high heat with a dash of oil. Add the mushrooms and cook for a minute, then add the shallot. Once they are softened, add in the butter and vinegar and toss to coat. Finish with a pinch of salt
- 1 dash of vegetable oil
- 150g of wild mushrooms , such as girolles, black trompettes or ceps
- 1 shallot , finely diced
- 20g of butter
- 10g of Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar
- 1 pinch of fine sea salt
To serve, divide the warm celeriac risotto between bowls. Carve the sweetbreads into 4 equal pieces and place on top, along with a spoonful of the warm jus. Top with a pickled celeriac sheet, the mushrooms and fresh tarragon leaves
- 1 handful of small tarragon leaves
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Veal sweetbread with celeriac ‘risotto’, wild mushrooms and tarragon
