La Cuisine Lyonnaise - Rognons d'Agneau à la Moutarde

This morning while out stocking up on the good eggs for a class on French sauces with the children, I saw the girl who smokes the bacon and she had, in addition to her regular lamb cuts, very attractively priced rognons d'agneau or lamb kidneys for one euro each.  Knowing that Loic was home working on his calculations, I decided to surprise him with a quick plate of rognons d'agneau à la moutarde when I got home.  We are alike in that we both consider offal in its many forms to be comfort food.  This is one of the many things that endears him to me. He appreciates my love for this type of dish and I never have to ask if he's in the mood.

Many of the cheap cuts so beloved to the Lyonnais take a while to prepare.  Sweetbreads have to be soaked, cheeks, tripes and various other delicious cuts must be slow cooked.  But not rognons.  The most time consuming part of rognons is finding them, ultra fresh.  When they fall in your lap straight from the producer like this, the only thing to do is to put everything else aside and cook them up, immediately.  This dish is so simple, it literally took me 15 minutes from start to finish to get it on the table with chunks of baguette au levain.  Followed by a salad and a sliver of cheese, this dish kicked off an afternoon of sauce making in style.



Rognons d'Agneau à La Moutarde

- 4 lamb kidneys
- 2 dozen  white button mushrooms, small
- 2 tbsp. butter, or 20 grams
- 1/4 cup fortified Muscat wine, or 5 cl
- 1/2 cup creme fraiche, or 10 cl
- 1 tbsp. dijon mustard
- 3 tbsp. parsley, minced fresh leaves
- salt & black pepper, to season

Clean the white button mushrooms and slice them in half.
Remove the fat the kidneys are encased in, and split them in half, removing as much filament from the inside as possible, peeling the thin film that encases them as well.  Season them with salt and pepper.  Heat the butter in a hot pan and toss the kidneys in the hot butter for 4 to 5 minutes, and reserve.
 


Toss the mushrooms in the same pan for 3 minutes, then add the wine.  Bring it to a fast boil, then add the creme fraiche. Reduce by 1/3.
Lower the heat and whisk the mustard into the sauce and then add the kidneys, tossing to coat with the sauce.  Allow the kidneys to reheat gently and transfer to individual plates.  Top with minced fresh parsley and serve with chunks of fresh baguette.

Servings: 2