Bacon & kidneys with mustard & cream

Spring

When it comes to wonderful breakfasts, this is up there with some of my favourites, and it has to be worth making for the sauce alone. Look for really fresh, firm lambs’ kidneys (they’re better if they haven’t been frozen), and fatty smoked bacon, and make haste in the pan. The handful of chopped parsley that goes in at the end may seem frivolous, but actually the parsley is there for the kidneys, and the kidneys for the parsley.

Serves 2

Ingredients

splash of extra-virgin olive oil
75g (2½oz) smoked bacon lardons
4 fresh lambs’ kidneys, halved and cored
1⁄2 glass of white wine or cider
2 heaped teaspoons Dijon mustard
200ml (7fl oz) double cream
1 small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
2 slices of buttered toast, to serve
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Place a medium frying pan over a high heat. Add a splash of oil followed by the bacon lardons. Let the lardons sizzle away until they begin to render a little fat and take on some colour; about 3–4 minutes. Lightly season the kidneys with salt and pepper, then add them to the frying pan. Initially, don’t stir them – let them take on some colour, then after 30 seconds turn them over as best you can.

Cook the kidneys for a further 1 minute, then add the white wine or cider and let the liquid bubble away for a minute or so. Stir in the mustard and the cream, then bring the contents of the pan back to a simmer and reduce for 1–2 minutes, or until the sauce is nice and thick. It should coat the kidneys and bacon.

Add the chopped parsley, then remove the pan from the heat. Pile the kidneys onto the buttered toast and bring to the table straight away.

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