Frito Mallorquin/Mallorcan Fry

Many years ago in a bustling old restaurant on the north coast of Mallorca I ordered a dish which i remember well. Mallorcan Fry was the name on the menu. The description was meat an vegetables mallorcan style. it was excellent. Rich and full of savoury flavour. The meat was tender and well… not quite meat like.

Of course in retrospect I should have known that this dish shows of the best that offal can deliver. Lambs kidneys, liver and heart gently fried up with  potatoes, peppers, fennel, onions and garlic. The offal doesnt have any of the features that generally put people off. The texture is soft and tender. As the meat is generally chopped into small pieces and cooked gently its a far cfy from the slabs of grey grainy liver that are the nightmares from school dinners. The texture of kidney is equally soft.

The off tastes of metallic liver and urine-y kidney is absent if the meats are washed after chopping.

I added a few tweaks to the classic. This is s rustic dish of many variations. A teaspoon of whole grain mustard and a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar. It steals from recipes for devilled kidneys but that isnt a bad thing.

Recipe:

1 white onion

1 head of fennel

1 red bell pepper

2-3 cloves garlic

parboiled potatoes cut into 1cm pieces

3 lambs kidneys chopped (and pelvis removed)

2 slices of lambs liver (chopped)

glass of red wine or madeira/sherry

salt and pepper

balsamic vinegar

whole grain mustard

Coursely chop the onion, fennel and pepper and garlic.  Soften and fry them in a generous amount of olive oil. Remove from heat. Fry the potatoes in the remaining oil. when taking on colour remove and add to the vegetables.  In same pan fry the liver and kidney. Do not overcook. The kidneys will get pink and that is about right. Remove and add to the vegetables. Add the wine to deglaze the pan. Add the balsamic and mustard. Add the vegetable, potatoes and offal back in and mix it all up.

Season well and serve. A full bodied Mallorcan biodynamic red wine that I would recommend is the wonderful 12 Volts . Made from the Callet grape it is deep black in coulor and a perfect match.