Sweetbreads & cauliflower purée | Recipe by sousvidetools.com

Veal sweetbreads cooked Sous Vide with ras el hanout and cauliflower purée

COOK TIME: 2 hours
PREP TIME: 1 hour
DIFFICULTY: Medium
SERVES: 2

Ingredients

Veal sweetbreads

100g ofveal sweetbreads
70g of T45 flour
5g of ras el hanout
salt
pepper
vegetable oil
1 tbsp of butter, plus beurre noisette butter
1garlic clove
1sprig of thyme
1 tsp ofpine nuts
chopped parsley
lemon juice

Garnish

1 cauliflower
butter
baby watercress, washed and picked
olive oil
coriander
30ml of chicken stock

Cauliflower purée

200g of cauliflower, finely chopped
150g of milk
100g of double cream
3g of salt

Cauliflower couscous

150g of cauliflower, grated on a microplane
salt
2 tbsp of golden raisins, soaked
1 tbsp of pine nuts
1 tbsp of pomegranate seeds
mint leaves, chopped
coriander, finely chopped

Lemon vinaigrette

120ml of lemon olive oil
30g of lemon vinegar
salt to taste

Equipment

Method

This delicious sous vide recipe by chef Marcus Eaves has been recreated for our website with kind permission from Great British Chefs

Method

As the garnish needs to be kept in a dehydrator for up to 6 hours it’s best to begin by preparing this. Take half of the cauliflower and using a mandolin, cut into 2mm thick slices. Arrange the slices on a non stick tray and allow to dehydrate for 4-6 hours in a dehydrator at 60°C. When ready the cauliflower should be crisp. The second part of the garnish can be prepared later in the process
Next, move on to making the cauliflower purée. Take a medium sized pan and combine the cream, milk and salt. Heat until simmering and then add the cauliflower. Allow to cook for 5-10 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender
Continue to cook until the liquid has reduced by half then pass the mixture through a strainer, ensuring you save the liquid. Take half of the liquid and blend along with the cauliflower. To alter the consistency add more of the milk liquid if desired. Pass through a sieve and set aside
To make the lemon vinaigrette combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth. When ready to serve the mixture will need to be thoroughly whisked once again
To make the cauliflower couscous begin by boiling a pan of water. Add the grated cauliflower and cook for 2-3 minutes or until tender. Use a sieve to strain the mixture then plunge in ice water to refresh
Drain the cauliflower before adding the pine nuts and raisins. Take the lemon vinaigrette you prepared earlier and use this to season the mixture. Toss to combine. The remainder of the ingredients will be added once ready to serve
Fill and preheat your water bath to 63°C
Use salt and pepper to evenly season the sweetbreads. Place them in vacuum bags and seal
Submerge the pouches into the water bath and cook sous vide for 11 minutes. Take the vacuum bags from the bath and allow them to cool in ice water. Then, remove the breads from the bags and pat dry
Mix together the ras el hanout and the flour. Season the cooked sweetbreads and then roll them in the flour mixture
Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a pan over a high heat. Place the sweetbreads in the hot pan and allow to caramelise on both sides. Add the thyme sprigs, garlic and one tablespoon of the butter to the pan. Once the butter is foaming use this to baste the sweetbreads for a further 1-2 minutes
Take the sweetbreads from the pan and set aside to rest for a minute or so before carving
Use the same pan to make a beurre noisette. Before you begin, drain the fat and use kitchen towel to dry. Return the pan to the stove and heat a knob of butter. Add the chopped parsley, pine nuts and a generous squeeze of lemon juice. Take the pan from the heat and set the beurre noisette aside
To complete the garnish you started at the beginning take the second half of the cauliflower and cut into medium sized florets. Heat salted water to boiling point then blanch the florets for up to one minute. Remove from the pan and set aside
Heat a knob of butter in a small pan before adding the chicken stock. Allow the liquid to reduce until it becomes a glaze. Maintain the texture by stirring with a wooden spoon. Take the cauliflower florets and coat in the chicken stock mixture. Ensure they are well coated
When ready to serve, take the couscous and add the pomegranate, coriander and mint. Place a heaped tablespoon of couscous in the centre of each plate then take the buttered cauliflower and arrange around the outside
Cover the cauliflower couscous with the sweetbreads then use the beurre noisette to ‘dress’ the breads. Scatter the dehydrated cauliflower crisps with the baby watercress and coriander leaves to decorate the plate. To complete the dish, drizzle with the cauliflower purée and olive oil. Serve immediately

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Post by Chris Holland

Our Chef Director Chris Holland worked as Head Chef at the prestigious Alderley Edge hotel before joining us. He has a passion for using the best produce and never compromises on quality. Author of our best selling book Sous Vide The Art of Precision Cooking, Chris is a expert on the sous vide technique.During the later part of my school days at Wardle High School Rochdale I always wanted to be a chef . I knew from the very start that my path to work was never going to be academic it was always going to be something practical and hands on.

As a young boy growing up I was inspired to cook with my Grandma who was and still is an inspiration to me . I have memories of helping make the cakes that she always had made for visitors and family alike . She made the most amazing cakes and I loved nothing more than eating the sweet raw cake batter straight from the bowl . We used to fight over who got to lick the bowl/spoon after the cakes were made. My grandma’s philosophy for cooking even on a shoe string budget was always to use fresh and seasonal ingredients either home grown or bought from the market.

School was somewhat of a drag for me as I was itching to learn to become a chef.

I started at Hopwood Hall college as a chef and instantly fell in love with it .To me it was the only real time I excelled in something and this inspired me to really get my head down and put in the hard work. College was the first time I really excelled in something and gave me the opportunity to laugh at the teachers who said I would never make something of my life!!!!

During the three years at college I also took on a part time position in a local hotel working the bar and restaurant first and then the kitchen. These were great days and gave me the opportunity to see how the industry ticks. I learnt a lot from those days both good and bad !! But I have to say I was itching to work only in the kitchen but it was a good insight into the catering world .

After completing college I moved away from Rochdale for a full time roll at one of Cheshire’s most talked about Hotel restaurants The Stanneylands Hotel. This was the school of hard knocks for me as I quickly realised that although excelling at college meant nothing in “The Real World”.

I loved every minute of the 18 hour days 6 days a week on minimum wage . Although difficult I feel that without this grounding I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. After 18 months of hard graft I left Stanneylands and went with the Head chef to open a fine dining restaurant at Mere Golf and Country Club. The opportunity to work alongside Matthew Barrett was too good to turn down. I learnt so much from the ex-Ritz chef and working in a much slower paced role helped me develop a much better understanding of how to organise and run a kitchen. We were a very small team and teamwork was and still is the only way to go for me.

After 2 years at Mere I got the opportunity to go into The Alderley Edge Hotel as Junior Souschef. The Early days at the Edge were all about learning new styles of cuising which is invaluable in any role as a chef. I got the opportunity to grow and learn all aspects of every section which was inspiring . I was offered the opportunity at the age of 29 (2004) to take the role of head chef. For me this was when I really started to develop my own style of food.

After 9 years at the top winning Cheshire restaurant of the year , Chef of the Year and appearing on GBM amongst many highlights including cooking for many celebrities and famous people I decided to move on into development with Sousvidetools.

The main inspiration for this was to train and educate people . I always had a great passion for education but could never really see myself at a college . The job is super rewarding and I am proud to say we have become the leading light in sous-vide education in the UK . This is something I am very proud of . Food is my biggest passion and this is what keeps me interested the most . I love to travel and try out other countries cuisines. I am constantly inspired by ingredients and the pursuit of getting the best out of them without destroying their natural flavour .It is super important to me to continue to try and be at the forefront of the food scene this is what inspire me and the team to keep driving forward .

Technology is now widely used in the industry and I am super proud to say we have been a big part of spreading that message.

I am very lucky to be in the position I am and the drive to constantly improve our training and links to the next generation of young budding hospitality chefs.

TI feel that my experience over the last 25 years really enables me to get close and educate the “next generation” of chefs .

The industry which I love is really struggling to bring through new recruits and if I can help that process I will be immensely proud.

The food seen in the Uk has improved dramatically over the last ten years and I feel this will continue with the correct education. What happens next only fate will tell us...

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