This was inspired by a dish we enjoyed (sadly no longer on the menu) at Po Restaurant on Smith Street, in brooklyn. We’ve made some tweaks for our own taste including a special pancetta, Acorn 2, supplied by Stinky cheese shop on Smith St., and added a poached egg (as that makes everything better…).
For this dish you’ll need:
Veal sweetbreads
Pancetta (any kind you like)
Potatoes (many kinds will work…fingerling, yukon gold, etc)
Eggs
- Prepare sweetbreads as per any number of online guides–this one is the one we learned from. I recently saw a method whereby they are blanched in milk, which sounds great and I plan to try it next time.
- Dice up your prepared sweetbreads and your pancetta–I like to leave my sweetbreads a little larger than the pancetta as I am a huge fan of this offal meat and like to showcase it.
- Dice up your potatoes, same size as your pancetta.
- Begin by frying your potatoes (this can be done a little in advance of the rest of the prep) in a bit of canola oil until lovely and browned.
- In a thick bottomed pan, brown your pancetta and remove the pancetta, keeping the fat in the pan. Now fry your sweetbreads in the oil for a few minutes. Add in your pancetta and your fried potatoes and give it all a toss and sprinklings of sea salt and freshly ground white pepper–let it all cook together for a couple of minutes until sweetbreads are cooked through (don’t overcook them, it is a very delicate offal organ meat, meltingly tender).
- Meanwhile poach your egg.
- Serve saute in a bowl, topped with a poached egg.
