In Italy, veal is served frequently. In fact, when I was there almost every dinner I ate had veal in it. If you’ve been around here for a while, you’ll notice a lot of veal recipes.

I grew up on veal, and love it for its tenderness and flavor. It’s always been considered a delicacy growing up and is most often served with elegant sauces. It can also be considered a romantic, special occasion choice, especially, when prepared with brandy, wine and puff pastry.

I chose a brandy, white wine melange of shallots and mushrooms inside of a puff pastry with prosciutto and fontina cheese. It’s a divine mixture of elegance that would be a distinct dinner party entree or starter.

Veal itself is lean and nutritious, not calorie or fat laden like beef, and a good choice for a healthy diet. One of the most important things to me is that it is raised humanely.

Cedar Springs veal family farmers use best practices and as part of a promotion, they sent me some veal cutlets to create a recipe. I wanted to step outside the box of the typical veal dishes and made a sort of modern day, savory veal pop tart, which is elegant, and richly satisfying.

I was very pleased with their veal and impressed with their practices. Mountain States Rosen veal growers have come together to establish protocols which focus on animal quality of life and well being. This is important to me.

Veal can be found in many cuts and is very versatile. While playing around I also made very healthy stuffed veal rolls, which I’ll post at another time, but for the contest, I wanted to go all out and make something very luxurious.

Quick Puff Pastry Recipe with Veal, Prosciutto, Fontina, Mushrooms

Quick puff pastry stuffed with prosciutto and veal is tasty, elegant, and will get a few bravos.

This is a romantic recipe, easy to prepare in advance, and comforting without being too heavy. It pairs well with charred carrots. Simply microwave peeled sliced carrots to soften and then throw into a hot frying pan with butter or olive oil for a few minutes.

The good news is how easy this quick puff pastry recipe is to make. Starting with a defrosted puff pastry,  this can made in under 30 minutes.

You roll out a puff pastry sheet to 14 x 14, and and then cut four pieces. Layer fontina cheese, prosciutto, veal, mushrooms, herbs. Fold and bake seam side down. Easy and elegant, this is a super quick puff pastry recipe.

I mixed some brandy into white wine to create a more complex flavor for the minced mushroom/shallots mixture.

Prosciutto brings flavor, and the fontina cheese brings creaminess, but is mild enough to not disturb the balance of the dish.

This veal was sent to me from Mountain States Rosen, which makes veal under the Cedar Springs Veal name.

Cedar Springs Veal has been provided for this post for contest entry.

So tell me do you ever make veal cutlets. I grew up on them, fried in Italian breadcrumbs and served with lemon. They were always a treat.

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Quick Puff Pastry Recipe with Veal and Prosciutto

Veal, Prosciutto, baby bella mushrooms and Fontina cheese stuffed into puff pastry for a very elegant meal.

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 4 oounces veal cutlets
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups baby bella mushrooms finely chopped
• 2 shallots finely chopped
• 4 slices fontina cheese
• 4 slices prosciutto thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 1 tablespoon brandy
• 8 sprigs thyme or 1 tablespoon parsley
• salt
• pepper
• 1 egg

Instructions

• Defrost puff pastry sheet.
• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
• Pound veal cutlets with meat pounder until very thin.
• Dredge in flour.
• Put 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter into frying pan. Add more oil if you need to.
• Fry cutlets until browned (but not too brown). Drain on paper towels. Set aside.
• Set cutlets aside.
• In clean pan, use remaining oil and butter to soften shallots and mushrooms (over medium low heat). Don't brown shallots, just soften.
• Add in wine and brandy. Be careful and use a lid immediately to prevent a grease splash. Remove lid to continue cooking.
• Simmer until alcohol has evaporated and there is a sauce, but no juice.
• Roll out puff pastry to 14 x 14 square. You may need to flour your surface first.
• Cut into 4 pieces.
• Layer cheese prosciutto, veal, mushroom sauce, and garnish with some time or chopped parsely).
• Add black pepper.
• Fold and using water crimp edges closes.
• Place on baking sheet seam side down.
• Brush with egg wash.
• Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

More Recipes with Veal from Spinach Tiger

Veal Bolognese

Veal Meatballs

Veal Osso Bucco

Veal Stew with Onion Sauce, Sage and Peas

Veal and Beef Shepherd’s Pie

Veal & Turnip Stew with White Wine

Veal Sugo

The post Quick Puff Pastry Recipe with Veal and Prosciutto appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

This past week I returned from Italy  still not satisfied as far as veal is concerned. I ate it several different ways, but not one single time with tomato. On the last night I ordered Osso Bucco in Milan, the signature dish of that fashionable city, waiting with eagerness for a bite of veal, delicately prepared with wine and tomato, falling off of my fork.

I was too late and they had none left.

A few days later I found myself in my  kitchen craving pasta and veal and set to work to create a veal sugo for spaghetti, a dish that has quickly moved up the ranks of my favorites. A dish, so easy to prepare, that I don’t understand how I didn’t ever make this before.

A dish inspired by Milan, but not typically found there.  Often the veal ossobucco is accompanied by risotto Milanese or polenta, a perfect companion to a rich tomato wine sauce. I once made Marcella Hazan’s recipe for Osso Buco here and served it over grits. Served with the traditional gremolada it was fantastic and the inspiration for today’s recipe.

This is one pasta dish that combines the protein with the pasta, much like a bolognese. So many Italian dishes separate these two, but I find this to be a most satisfying and comforting dish to celebrate Autumn when braising or slow cooking makes us all feel good.

You can make this on top of the stove or in the oven (as I did)  in a cast iron pot, or put it in the crock pot and forget about it.

Unlike many tomato sauce recipes, this has a meat broth and white wine.  While you will use the cheaper veal shoulder, don’t leave out the wine and broth because you don’t want to miss out on that complexity of flavor.

Get the Right Pasta for this Veal Italian Sauce Recipe

Enjoy this veal sugo on a wide noodle or a large spaghetti.  I found a brand at my loal grocery store, La Molisana, which I highly recommend. They’ve been in the pasta business since 1912, and produce a chewy pasta with a substantial bite.

If you happen to find La Molisana, the spaghetti is thick and so much better than anything you can find in any similar price point.

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More Italian Recipes from Spinach Tiger

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Italian Sauce Recipe with Veal, Tomato, White Wine

A veal sugo, similar to the flavors in Osso Buco with spaghetti.

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 3 hours hours

Total Time 3 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 pound veal shoulder hopefully with some bone
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup of chopped onion
• 3 carrots cubed
• 3 celery sticks diced
• 2 garlic cloves diced
• 1 1/2 cups meat broth or chicken broth
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 large can about 3 cups of chopped canned San Marzano Italian plum tomatoes
• 1 sprig of fresh rosemary
• handful fresh Italian parsley
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• Parmigiana reggiano
• 3-4 fresh sage leaves optional
• 1 pound spaghetti or wide noodle pasta order here

Instructions

• Flour veal, brown in pan with olive oil. Set aside.
• in heavy bottomed pan saute onion, celery, carrots in butter. After five minutes, add garlic.
• Add wine, and deglaze pan.
• Add broth and herbs.
• Place veal over vegetables.
• Add tomatoes and herbs.
• Braise for three hours on very low in dutch oven at 300 degrees or in crock pot. You can also do simmer on top of stove, until veal falls apart.
• Remove herbs. Discard.
• Remove veal. Trim fat and bone and flake into pieces to be place back into sauce.
• Cook pasta according to directions. Use a very large pot for your pasta. This will give you a good ratio of boiling water to pasta and the water will reboil quicker. Salt the pot with 2 tablespoons salt right before you put the pasta in the water. Do not overcook. The pasta should have a firm bite, not snappy, but firm.
• Toss with sauce and serve with fresh parmigiana reggiano cheese.

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You make veal stew with onion sauce, add in some peas increasing the sweetness and give it a little depth and color with purple potatoes.

It’s summer. It’s the South. However, while the rest of the country is in heatwave mode, we are having an almost California summer week. Low humidity. Sunny. Breathable. Food can be served on the deck, and a stew can go on the stove. Normally, I would never think to make a braised veal dish in the summer time, but these amazing sweet onions begged to be made into a sauce.

I kept this dish very simple. I didn’t use butter or any thickeners, not even broth. I wanted the onions to be the star of this dish and in all honesty, I am trying to cook with less ingredients, and a little lighter.

The purple potatoes are adorable and made the green pea look brighter. I used thyme and sage, an herb I use more typically in the winter, but I’m learning how silly it is to limit myself to summer food, winter food, etc. Sage grows in abundance all year, as does rosemary and both deserve their day in July.

The veal stew was more than comforting, but still light. This is a perfect weekday supper that appears fussy enough, but it wasn’t.

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Veal Stew with Onion Sauce, Sage, Peas and Purple Potatoes on the Lighter Side

A lighter version of veal stew with with onion sauce.

Course Entree

Cuisine French

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 3 hours hours

Total Time 3 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings 3

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 1 pound veal meat cubed
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 large sweet onions finely chopped
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2 cups frozen peas
• 1 to 2 cups of small purple potatoes or any potatoes
• sage
• thyme
• salt
• pepper

Instructions

• Salt and pepper the veal cubes. Dredge in flour. Place in frying pan or dutch oven on medium heat with olive oil.
• Brown on all sides. Remove and set aside.
• Add ore olive oil if necessary and saute onions for three minutes. Add in garlic. Continue until onions are softened.
• Add in a few sage leaves, and several sprigs of thyme. (remove later).
• Add in veal and wine. Cook for 10 minutes.
• Salt and pepper again.
• Add in 2 cups water, and cook on very low for two to three hours.
• During last half hour, boil potatoes until fork tender.
• Add to stew with 2 cups frozen peas. Add in more herbs, salt and pepper.
• Serve when peas are cooked.

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Veal and turnip stew with white wine ended up in a pot today because I was given two bags of freshly picked purple top turnips.

A veal and turnip stew with white wine is a classic dish that brings an elegant comfort and much winter happiness. I think if kitchens could talk, they would want more slow cooked, braised stews sitting on the stove in December.

I know some people don’t eat veal, but it goes with my Italian heritage. I remember my grandmother baking a calf’s head in the oven. I was not shocked. I was not in awe. I was mortified for a minute or two, but as I watched my uncle chew eye balls, I thought this must be gourmet food.

We were not exactly poor and I didn’t think that they were eating this because it was all that was left to eat. I knew this was a clear choice. After googling baked calf’s head, I discovered it’s a vintage dish, eaten frequently back in the 1800’s and  I found a few recipes, but no pictures.

Old recipes are so interesting. There is more refinement than one might expect and a deep appreciation for all the parts of the animal. I’m not as adventurous as my grandmother, but I have always been more willing to make food that is not Italian.

This veal stew is just simple veal shoulder, cut into cubes and quite lean. Nothing exotic, but it’s veal, and it has flavor. I usually approach veal more delicately than beef, choosing a white wine for braising instead of red. The only thing I would change the next time is to use pearl onions instead of regular onions. Veal, even in a simple stew,  is a classy dish.

Tell me, what’s your favorite pot of happiness on the stove in the winter?

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Veal and Turnip Stew with White Wine

Veal and turnip stew, an elegant, healthy, perfect winter dish.

Course Entree

Cuisine French

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 3 hours hours

Total Time 4 hours hours

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 2 pounds veal cubes
• salt black pepper
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 onion sliced or 24 pear onions
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 4 carrots cut into large chunky pieces
• 2 turnips cut into size suitable for stew larger than cubes
• generous sprigs of thyme saving some for garnish
• handful of parsley saving some for garnish
• black peppercorns
• 4 cups chicken stock or stock of choice

Instructions

• Dry veal cubes. Season with salt and pepper.
• Toss in bag with the flour.
• Add the whole bag into the olive oil and brown on all sides, making sure to scrape bottom of pan for all the bits.
• Remove veal cubes to another dish.
• In same pot (remove any big pieces of flour that cooked), add garlic, onions, and cook just until softened.
• Add in white wine and cook for ten minutes. Add in butter, stir.
• Add in stock or water as needed.
• Add thyme and parsley (you can wrap in cheesecloth for later removal)
• Add in veal. Cook on low for 2 1/2 hours.
• Add carrots and turnips. Cook for another hour or until carrots are softened.
• You may need to add more stock, broth or water.

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This is an amazing, rich, satisfying recipe from Daniel Boulard. As soon as I saw this, I knew I would have to make it. This is a meal for cold weather, and a big appetite, as it’s very filling, but it’s real food, so eat up.

This is a slow food recipe, using veal stock, red wine and beef. The whipped potatoes are made with Manchego Cheese. You can switch out veal stock for beef stock.

This is a the best of a stew and best of mashed potatoes.

Enjoy the marriage of beef and veal with Manchego cheese mashed potatoes for a rich and unique Shepherd’s pie.

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Beef and Veal Stew Shepherd’s Pie

Recipe for Beef and Veal Shepherd’s Pie (adapted from Daniel Boulard, Elle Decor Magazine) Ingredients

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Servings 6

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

Beef & Veal Shepherd’s Pie

• 1 lb. boneless rib eye cut into 1″ cube
• 1 pound veal cubes optional, if you don’t use veal, use 2 pounds of rib eye steak
• 2½ cups Burgundy red wine
• 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 medium onions ½” dice
• 2 large carrots peeled, ½” dice
• 3 stalks celery ½” dice
• 2 teaspoons tomato paste
• 1 1/2 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups veal stock see recipe below or use beef stock
• Salt and pepper to taste

Mashed potatoes (see recipe below)

• 1/2 cup grated manchego cheese original recipe uses gruyere

Sachet

• • 2 cloves garlic
• • 1 sprig rosemary
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 3 stems parsley
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 peppercorns crushed

Veal Stock

• veal bones
• 1 large onion quartered
• 2 carrots cut in large pieces
• few sprigs of thyme
• salt pepper
• six cups cold water

Mashed Potatoes

• 2 pounds white potatoes peeled (some love yukon golds for a creamier texture.
• 2 teaspoons salt for water
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 6 to 8 tablespoons whole milk
• splash of cream optional
• salt white pepper to season
• dash nutmeg about three gratings

Instructions

Beef & Veal Shepherd’s Pie

• Cut the veal off the bone and make the veal stock below. Cut the rib eye into small cubes, discarding the fat.
• Cover the cubed veal pieces and rib eye with the wine and marinate for 3 hours.
• Put sachet ingredients into a piece of cheesecloth. Prepare vegetables.
• After three hours, remove meat from wine. Reserve wine and reduce in sauce pan with salt and pepper. Set aside.
• Add olive oil to large pot or dutch oven. Sear meat on both sides. Remove and set aside, reserving enough fat in pot to saute the vegetables.
• Add onion, celery and carrots and saute for four minutes. Add in tomato paste. Cook for two minutes and add meat. Sprinkle in the flour and cook until four is dissolved. Add wine, veal stock and sachet.
• Cover and simmer very low for two hours. Season to taste.Put stew into baking pan.
• Top with mashed potatoes and manchego cheese.
• Bake at 400 degrees, on top rack for 15 minutes or until cheese is bubbling.

Veal Stock

• Cut away the bone from a veal shoulder. Reserve meat for recipe above. Place bones, carrots, onion and thyme on shallow roasting sheet. Season with salt and pepper.
• Roast at 400 degrees for 45-60 minutes, or until vegetables are caramelized.
• Place in large pot with 6 cups of cold water. Add bay leaf, fresh sprig of thyme. Simmer for 2-4 hours or until reduced to 2 cups of broth. You might need to add in some cold water if broth is reducing too fast. Taste along the way.

Mashed Potatoes

• Peel potatoes, and cut into quarters and cut again. Rinse in cold water. Put just enough cold water in pan to cover potatoes by two inches.
• Add 2 teaspoons salt. Bring to boil and then simmer until fork tender. Drain and put back into pot and add butter. Season with salt and pepper.
• Scald milk. Smash potatoes with fork or old fashioned masher tool and add a few tablespoons of hot milk and three tablespoons of the butter. Mix with a wooden spoon.
• Take through the ricer and return to the pan. Turn the heat on low and add the rest of the milk a little at a time and use wooden spoon to stir.
• Add nutmeg. Stir again. Add in last tablespoons of butter. Taste and season again with salt and pepper if necessary.

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So if I tell you that these grits are flavored with pecorino romano, and a slow cooked veal-based, tomato wine sauce from Marcella Hazan, would you still turn up your nose? I think not.

Now, how in the world did this California Yankee decide to use grits as my base for my sweet, aromatic, milanese ossobuco? WelI, I couldn’t find polenta and some might even argue that grits and polenta are the same thing, they are similar, but not the same. I had polenta in my mind, in my heart, and yet not in my grocery bag. But, I had just cracked open my bag of Falls Mill White Corn Grits, ground by water power right here in middle Tennessee for a shrimp and grits dish and I had a cup of grits remaining. Isn’t this really what a true Italian would do? Grab the freshest local ingredient and make it work. But, you might be thinking, they are the same thing. Grits are much finer than their courser counterpart, but yes, you can certainly cook them in very similar fashion, and so I did.

There are two ways to do this. You can make the grits and top it with the veal and sauce, or you can make the grits and take half of the sauce, an extra cup of broth and chopped tomatoes and cook the grits in the sauce. It’s good either way. Just make sure you realize how much liquid your grits will be absorbing (like rice or pasta) when added into a dish uncooked. Add lots of liquid for that absorption.

Falls Mill
Falls Mill, located in Beveldere, Tennessee, they travel by wagon to a local farmer to purchase white hybrid corn. Then using only water power, they make the grits, including powering the elevator. I am so smitten with this company, I plan on making a trip to visit their museum and country store on my next sunny day off. You can order from their website and please note that their corn grits are perishable and must be refrigerated, as there are no preservatives. I nearly missed this because I am so used to throwing any bag of grains right into my pantry.

The Ossobuco
Traditionally, ossobuco (braised veal shanks) is made with risotto milanese, sometimes mashed potatoes or creamy polenta. This tells you right off the bat that this is comfort food, the kind of comfort food that supersedes any fancy pants, couture cuisine. Veal, and veal bones in a braise means exceptional flavor that does not overpower anything else in the pot. It’s the quintessential rustic elegance that is more and more become the Spinach Tiger calling card.

This is the first time I’ve ever made ossobuco, which is sometimes spelled in two words, osso buco, but it won’t be the last. I’m not afraid to embrace veal; it’s part of my heritage, and while it can be expensive, I was able to get two very meaty shanks at Fresh Market for $14. I now wish I would have bought 4 because we could easily eat this two days in a row. Although, after having eaten this meal, I think the four shanks would have disappeared in one night.

There are a lot of recipes for ossobuco on the internet. What is the same in all of them is browning the veal shanks, and using vegetables, aromatics and white wine to braise for several hours, until the meat falls off the bone, which is why you tie it with string (something I forgot to do). The traditional garnish is a gremolada, a compound of parsley, lemon zest and garlic.

Marcella’s recipe calls for 8 veal shanks. I only used two, but did not reduce any other ingredients. I wanted a lot of sauce, knowing I would be using it for the grits. I also added in fresh thyme. I used a can of San Marzano tomatoes, a little more expensive than other brands, but taste like you just took them out of the garden in August, and worth it. The sauce tasted bright, fresh and a little sweet in teh way a good tomato can taste sweet.

Ready to go into the oven, white wine, chopped tomatoes, parsley, sauteed, carrot, onion, celery, fresh thyme, bay leaf.

Optional: Ossobuco atop grits that are already mixed with sauce. Rustic can look beautiful.

Gremolada, the traditional garnish of parsley, lemon zest and garlic.

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Cooking Italy: Ossobuco with Falls Mill White Corn Grits

Adapted from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. Italy meets the South with Veal Osso Buco with White Corn Grits.

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 2 hours hours

Total Time 2 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 cup onion
• 2/3 cup carrot finely chopped
• 2/3 cup celery finely chopped
• 4 T butter
• 1 teaspoon garlic chopped fine
• 2 strips lemon peel I used lemon zest
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 8 veal shanks Note: I only cooked 2 meaty shanks and used all the rest of the ingredients
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup meat broth
• 2 1/2 cups canned plum tomatoes coarsely chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• several sprigs fresh thyme
• several sprigs parsley
• freshly ground pepper
• sea salt

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350, for two hours of braising
• Choose heavy pot that can be put in oven, large enough to put a single layer of veal shanks.
• Put onion carrot celery and butter on medium heat, cook 6-7 minutes, add garlic and lemon cook few more minutes.
• Put some vegetable oil in skilled and turn on heat to medium high. Coat veal in flour, and when pan is hot, brown veal on both sides. Once browned, put veal in pot over chopped vegetables. With only a little oil left, add wine , reduce and scrape bottom. Pour over veal. Put broth in skillet, simmer and add to pot.
• Add in tomatoes, thyme, bay leaf, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper. You want the veal to be covered 2/3 in broth. Place in lower third of oven for two hours, basting every twenty minutes. If using a self-basting cast iron enamel pot, the frequent basting is not necessary.
• Once you are close to the two hours, make grits picking one of the ways discussed below.
• Serve with a garnish of gremolada.

Notes

Gremolada

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon garlic chopped finely
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Cooking Grits
Place grits in a bowl. Pour cold water over and swirl and pour out water. The light bran will float to the top. Carefully pour off water, reserve the grits. I do this a few times to make sure. Then proceed with package directions. The grits will typically double, and will require constant stirring on low heat to avoid lumps.

If you choose to make this as separate from veal, add in 1/2 cup grated pecorino romano, 1-2 T of butter and season to taste with salt and pepper.

If you choose to cook this in the sauce, for every cup of grits, add 1 cup broth and 1 cup chopped tomatoes with juice. If it seems too think, add in a little more broth.

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