Veal Recipes

Archive for the ‘cheek’ Category

Mugello is in Tuscany, Italy

Ingredients
Roughly chop together 2 red onions
1 celery stalk
2 garlic cloves
a small bunch of parsley
2 hot chillies
tomato.

Directions
Two hours before starting the cooking, put the cheek in a container and leave under a fine stream of running water.
After which take a pan, put in enough cold water to eventually cover the cheek, add the onion, celery, carrot, stock cube and a pinch of salt, bring to the boil.
When the liquid reaches a rolling boil, with great care, introduce the cheek and adjust the heat to simmer, cover and cook for about 45 minutes.
In the meantime, in another pan cook the chopped vegetables in the oil over a medium heat until golden, stirring to avoid sticking, for 20 minutes.
Add the tomato, cover and cook slowly for 20 minutes.

Lift the cheek from the stock and drain, leave to cool a little, cut away the superfluous fat with a knife, cut into small pieces (like tripe) then add to the pan with the boiling sauce.
Stir well to mix, reduce the sauce a little over a high heat for 4-5 minutes then lower the heat, cover and cook for a further 20 minutes or until the cheek is very tender and almost jelly-like.
Serve with boiled beans (or boiled diced carrots) on the same plate to mix with the cheek’s sauce.

Ingredients
2lb Veal Bacon slab (1kg)
9lb (36 cheeks) Veal Cheek, cleaned (4kg)
Butter As needed
6 cups Mirepoix (1500ml)
Chopped fresh tomatoes 4 each
1 cup Dry white wine 250ml
Bouquet garni (thyme, celery, parsley, bay leaf) 1 each
1 tablespoon Tomato paste 15ml
1 tablespoon All-purpose flour 15ml
1quart Veal stock 946ml
¾ cup White chicken stock 180ml
1 teaspoon Whole black peppercorns 5ml
1 teaspoon Coarse salt 5ml
Salt and pepper to taste.
36 each Brown glazed cipollini
36 pieces Steamed turned potatoes and chives
Sautéed, assorted chopped wild
3 cups mushrooms 750ml
Steamed baby carrots 24 each
Peas, a la francaise For garnish
Fresh chevril sprigs For garnish
Chopped fresh chives For garnish

Directions
Cut bacon into ¾ inch thick slices, then cut crosswise into ¾ inch wide pieces.
Roast veal bacon until crisp.
Brown veal cheeks quickly in butter, remove.
Add mirepoix to pan; sauté until brown. Drain fat.
In a deep pot, combine veal cheeks, veal bacon, mirepoix, tomatoes, wine, bouquet garni, tomato paste and flour; mix well.
Add veal stock, chicken stock, peppercorns and salt, bring to a boil.
Cover and place in 375ºF (190°C) oven. Cook 25-30 minutes or until veal is tender.
Remove veal cheeks and bacon from pot; reserve.
Strain cooking liquid. slowly reduce liquid, skimming frequently, until sauce lightly coats back of spoon. Season with salt and pepper. Stain sauce. Keep hot.
For each portion: Plate 3 veal cheeks, 3 veal bacon pieces, 3 cipollini and 3 potato pieces. place ¼ cup mushrooms in center; top with 2 carrots.

Sprinkle with peas. spoon very hot sauce over cheek. garnish with chevril and chives.

Cipollini
Definition: [chihp-oh-LEE-nee] These bittersweet bulbs of the grape hyacinth taste and look like small onions, which is why they’re also called wild onions.
Fresh cipollini are hard to find in the United States but do make an appearance in some Italian markets during the fall. Jars of cipollini preserved in oil are also sometimes available.
For peak flavor, fresh cipollini should be slowly simmered or braised.
They can be served as an appetizer or vegetable.

Mirepoix
The term mirepoix refers to a combination of diced vegetables, typically carrots, onions, and celery. It is the classic French flavor base of many stocks, sauces, stews, and soups.
Mirepoix is also often used as a bed on which to braise.
The approximate proportions for a mirepoix are 50%, 25%, and 25% celery.
To make a white mirepoix, typically for a fish stock or fumet (concentrated stock), use leeks.
Garlic may also be added to a cooking, or caramelizing, mirepoix, but always toward the very end of cooking, as garlic burns easily.
The size of mirepoix cut depends on the length of time and method by which the vegetables will be cooked; use fine dice for a quick-cooking dish; coarse, larger cuts for longer-cooked dishes, such as beef stock or pot roast.
Add these rich-tasting vegetables directly to liquids, or caramelize in butter first to bring out their natural sweetness.

Add Flavor to Soups and Stews with a Bouquet Garni
Among the first things I learned to make as a prep cook were bouquets garni–little bundles of herbs and spices tied together with twine or wrapped in cheesecloth.
I added these packets to soups, stocks, sauces, braises, or any other dish with a lot of liquid and a long simmer. My restaurant days are over, but I still use this technique at home.
A bouquet garni (pronounced boo-kay gahr-nee) keeps all my herbs together, making them a cinch to remove (so I don’t have to fish for the bay leaf before serving a stew, for example).
Parsley, thyme, and bay leaf are the standard trio. I use four or five parsley stems, a sprig or two of thyme, and a bay leaf.
Other aromatics can give your dish a more complex flavor.
A few whole cloves add a touch of warmth and sweetness; a strip of citrus zest enhances meat-based stews and braises; a sprig of rosemary, sage, or savory sets a Mediterranean tone; and a garlic clove is a welcome addition to almost any selection of herbs.

You can tie a bouquet garni with twine, but if you’re using small spices like peppercorns or cloves, or if you’re worried about thyme leaves getting into a clear soup, you should bind everything in a more secure wrapping. Cheesecloth is ideal (some chefs call this kind of bouquet garni a sachet), but leek leaves or wide celery ribs also work.

If the leek leaves are especially thick and difficult to fold, soften them first by dropping them briefly in boiling water or zapping them in the microwave.

Some cooks leave a few inches of twine on the bouquet garni and tie the end to the pot handle so it’s easier to retrieve. I prefer to let the packet swim freely; sometimes I bury it toward the bottom of the pot to extract the most flavor.

Recipe Source: Molly Stevens is a contributing editor to Fine Cooking.