On the heat. Mild

Ingredients

• 600 g lamb kidneys, cored and halved
• 40 g butter · 1 tbsp oil
• 2 shallots, chopped fine
• 200 g button mushrooms, quartered
• 4 tbsp brandy or cognac
• 150 ml dry white wine
• 200 ml double cream
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp grain mustard · parsley
• Salt, black pepper · rice or toast

Method

1. Soak the kidneys 30 minutes in milk, rinse, and dry thoroughly.
2. Butter and oil very hot. Kidneys in one layer, seared 90 seconds a side, then out onto a warm plate. They are undercooked at this point and that is correct.
3. Shallots and mushrooms into the pan, 6 minutes until the mushrooms have given up their water and started to brown.
4. Brandy in and flamed, or simply reduced. Wine in, reduced by two thirds.
5. Cream in, simmered 3 minutes to thicken. Then take the pan off the heat and whisk in both mustards. Mustard boiled goes bitter and grainy.
6. Kidneys and their juices back in for one minute in the residual heat. Parsley, pepper, salt. Rice or good toast.

Cook's note. Mustard never boils. That single rule is the difference between this dish and a curdled, bitter one, and it applies to every mustard sauce there is.

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