This recipe is light, aromatic and utterly wonderful. I promise that it won't clobber you over the head with the flavour of the kidneys, so you will want to eat it all year round. This is what you might call a 'blonde' take on a masculine old classic.
Serves 6
Ready in 3 hours
Per serving:
452 calories
1. Preheat a conventional oven to 200ºC or a fan-assisted one to 180ºC.
2. Roll out the sheet of puff pastry and divide into six triangles of roughly the same size (or cut out fun shapes of whatever you fancy - for the show, we used a cow-shaped pastry cutter and some stars!).
3. Brush the tops with a little milk and set onto a baking tray. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until puffed up and golden. Set aside for later.
This recipe will stand or fall on the quality of the meat that you buy.
This is when the expertise (and the jolly face) of your local butcher is necessary to the success of the dish.
Not only will your butcher choose the right braising steak for the cooking time, he will also trim the kidneys, which is a messy job.
And don't try to save time by removing the stage involving browning the meat. In a slow-cooked dish, this is where the lion's share of the flavour is coming from, so do it in batches to avoid ending up with a 'nothing and kidney pie'.
4. If you haven't already got the butcher to do this for you, slice the kidneys widthways with a sharp knife.
5. With the help of a small pair of scissors, carefully snip around the lighter centre core and discard. Then chop the livers into cubes.
6. In a large mixing bowl, combine the buckwheat flour, the steak, the kidneys and white pepper until evenly coated.
7. In a really large saucepan, fry half the meat in half the olive oil until it is well-browned, then set aside. Repeat the process for the other half until all the meat is well-coloured.
8. Replace the meat into the pan, along with the shallots, star anise, cinnamon, the vermouth and stock.
9. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat right down and place a lid over the top. Simmer super-duper gently for two hours before removing the lid and tasting.
10. The meat may not need the last half an hour or it may want slightly more (it all depends on the steak that you are using, the size of the chunks and the pan). What you are looking for is meat that has surrendered most of its tension without shredding into a mess.
11.Season well and top with a crisp of golden puff pastry on the top of each serving.
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