Sweetbreads are so simple and elegant, they will pick up the flavors of anything you cook with them. Â Leave it to Marcella Hazan to pair with butter and sweet peas; this recipe is adapted from her original in Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.
Sweetbreads with tomatoes and peas is truly a summer dish – when fresh shelled peas and tomatoes are weighing down my bags at the farmer’s market. But somehow, on it’s half birthday, I realized that it was a bit Christmas-y, too! And besides, despite my devotion to eating seasonally, canned tomatoes and frozen peas are pretty universal in our home.
I think that this dish is perfect with rice and a salad. In the summer, use the rice as a vehicle for broth. In the winter, a steaming cup to precede your meal would be lovely. Happy holidays!
Notes for sweetbreads with tomatoes and peas
Most recipes I’ve seen for sweetbreads call for peeling off as much of the white outer membrane as possible before poaching.  In the past few years, I’ve never purchased sweetbreads with much membrane left intact.  So when I’ve tried this, the inner bready pieces start to separate and come apart.  In my experience, it’s easiest to just poach the sweetbreads first.  When you do this, that outer membrane changes texture from the yummy middles. At this point, the membrane is whiter, and easier to pull off with your fingers or clip off with kitchen shears. This is how I recommend preparing the sweetbreads below.  However, take a look at what you receive from your farmer or butcher. Your sweetbreads may still benefit from this initial step of peeling off some of this outer membrane before cooking.
You can poach the sweetbreads in advance and refrigerate in its broth. This will give you up to a day (or two, if life gets in the way) to use get finish your recipe.
Like all broths, be sure to save your court bouillon to use for soup or cooking grains later in the week.
Ingredients
To prep the sweetbreads
- 1 celery, cut in half
- 1 carrot, peeled and cut in half
- 1/2 onion, cut in half
- a splash of white wine (1/4 c) or 1 T wine vinegar
- bay leaf
- salt
- 1 lb sweetbreads
To make the dish
- 4T butter
- 1/2 chopped onion
- 2 tomatoes, chopped (summer) or 1 15 oz can chopped tomatoes (winter)
- 1lb fresh or frozen peas
Instructions
To prep the sweetbreads
- Prepare a salty court bouillon (short broth) by adding vegetables, wine or vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt, bay leaf and enough water to eventually cover the sweetbreads in a pot. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.
- Rinse sweetbreads and add to your broth. Adjust temperature to keep at a low simmer. Simmer for 5-10 minutes.
- Remove sweetbreads and let cool until you can handle. Peel or cut off any excess white membrane from the perimeter. Then chop into 1/2 inch pieces.
To prepare the dish
- Melt butter in pan on medium heat and saute onion until soft, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the chopped sweetbreads to the pan and continue to saute until onions become light brown.
- Add chopped or canned tomatoes and salt and set on low for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Finally, add frozen peas. Check seasonings and add additional salt if necessary and a bit of pepper. Cover for 5 minutes to warm peas and cook through.
- Serve immediately.
Leave a Reply