Stuffed veal breast Italian style
This was our meat course last Friday evening– at last, something I could eat.
I know that quite a few of you will be up to your ears in turkey, trimmings and then turkey leftovers, but just file this one away under "elegant and delicious way to serve a pretty cheap meat." I can buy these boned veal breasts all ready boned and rolled at my supermarket, but not always. When they have them on sale I buy a bunch of them, because they make some stupendously good dishes. On the pages here I have made Pot au Feu with it. Then there was the mindblowingly tasty Vitello Ripiene di Vitello. I have minced it up to use for various dishes at times. Once, when there were no boned ones in the shops, I boned one here for you so you'd know what to do if your butcher is impervious to flirting-- mine are girls! Veal breast should be one of the cheapest great cuts there is, bone in or boned. Why? Because so few people have a clue what to do with them! Ask your supermarket. If your butcher wants a lot of money for it, tell him you are leaving him for another.
As you'll see below, I have published a lighter stuffed veal breast before. This stuffing is much more typical of Italy, with ham, sausage, cheese-- all richer by far than the earlier one. And yet the taste is not salty and fatty as you expect it to be. When I was working this up I intended to add lots more herbs and possibly nuts or whatever, but I arrived at this point in the recipe and I knew that if I added anything else it would be just ego working and not for the good of the dish. I stopped.
Stuffed veal breast Italian style Rollè di Vitello
Serves 10 to 12
Enough for 2 rolls, or almost 2 kilos or 4 pounds of boned veal breast
2 rolls of boned veal breast od about 800-900 grams each or almost 2 pounds each.
Filling:
100 g fat and lean of prosciutto
1-1/2 medium onion, chopped fine
430 g 1 pound lean sausage meat removed from casings
4 tablespoons fine, dry breadcrumbs
1 egg
40 g 1-1/3 ounce grated hard cheese such as Parmigiano Reggiano
Broth:
1 large carrot, cleaned and chunked
2 legs of celery, cleaned and chunked
½ medium onion, cleaned
1 turnip, cleaned and chunked
4 peppercorns
handful of fresh thyme or 2 teaspoons of dried thyme
bay leaf
salt to taste when reheated
Dice small the prosciutto. Peel and chunk the onion. Use the food processor to finely mince the onion, then add the prosciutto and mince again. Add the breadcrumbs and pulse in. Add the sausage and mix thoroughly. Add the egg and the grated cheese and mix well. Test for seasoning by frying a tiny burger made of it. Correct it until you like it, but find it a bit saltier than perfect. That's so the stuffing will season the veal from the inside.
Unroll one veal breast and spread about a half of the mixture on it. Don't use too much or it will just squeeze out when you roll it up and tie it. Carefully roll it up using a light hand and tie it like a package using butcher's string. Do the same thing with the other.
Heat a large frying pan and add a little olive oil. Brown all sides of each roll. Using a kitchen fork in the strings is the easiest way to manipulate them by far. Don't worry if a bit of the stuffing remains in the pan.
Put all the broth vegetables in the bottom of a tall stockpot. Arrange the two rolls on top of them. Use a bit of water to get the brown bits off the frying pan and add that to the pot. Add water until the meat is almost covered. Add the spices. Add any stuffing leftover.
Bring the pot to a simmer, then cover it and reduce the heat to keep it at a slow simmer. Cook at least 2 hours. Cool in the broth, then refrigerate the whole thing.
Next day, at least 2 hours before dinner, remove any excess fat from the top of the broth. Remove the meat rolls. Bring the broth to a boil and simmer it to reduce by at least half, tasting for salt and correcting when it is reduced.
Use a sharp knife to slice the rolls, then lay them like a deck of cards in a heatproof shallow dish. Pour part of the broth over the slices and heat this in the oven until warm. You can also do this in a pot, but it is much harder to keep the slices presentable if you have to remove them to a serving dish once heated.
Those above would look nicer if they were spread or fanned out on a platter with some garnishing, but I want to be with my friends, and putting them in a shallow dish and covering them means they stay warm longer and I am not shuffling things when I could be pitching pennies with Julian or teaching Italian naughty words to Katherine.
You can obviously make half this quantity and serve 5 or 6 people, but leftovers freeze beautifully, so it's practical to make this amount and that halves the fuel used and almost halves the time to make it. My leftovers will be thawed and served with various sauces. I think a shallot, tarragon and oil sauce sounds good I would like a buttery sauce with anchovies and dill pickle bits, too. If I were eating carbohydrates gravies might come to mind.
Another good Sunday pranzo recipe. But tell me, you can find turnips there?
I ask my neighbors who grow cime di rape for the rape! You don’t have to use it, but it does make a large difference in the umami flavors.