Need further inspiration for B/L stuffed veal breast, please!
On a fluke, I purchased a small piece (under 2 pounds, as I recall) of boneless veal breast on sale. It's about an inch thick. I could use preparation inspiration for it. I've never cooked one of these myself, so my thoughts run only to the basics, as follows:
1. Prepare a stuffing with beloved ingredients, in my case spinach, mushrooms, bread crumbs, egg, seasonings, maybe some ground veal and a little finely chopped onion (raw or cooked first on the veal, onion?).
2. Pound veal a bit to flatten more, season both sides w/ S & P, spread filling across top surface, roll up & tie, brown in oil on all sides about 10 minutes. Remove to appropriately sized roaster.
3. Saute some mirepoix in pan, turn out into roaster.
4. Deglaze pan w/white wine, pour over rolled roast, add some broth (chicken or beef? no veal broth available), cover tightly, and cook in 325 oven until tender, maybe 2 hours? Or to a certain temp?
5. Remove rolled meat from roaster, tent to rest, strain sauce (discard solids) and reduce liquid, maybe with some wine, fortified or otherwise. Season to taste. Enrich with a little heavy cream, or temper in some sour cream.
6. Slice roast and serve with sauce.
That's the best I can come up with. Partially based on a quick Internet search, but also from other cooking experience. Can anyone out there provide suggestions for something better? Or answer the question about raw vs. cooked ground veal in the stuffing? Would a slow cooker be better for the long cooking? Your opinions will be appreciated!
And P.S. This is not exactly a seasonal dish, but hey, the meat was on sale and I'm a sucker for "manager's specials."
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10 Comments:
i would think that you would have to pound it out rather thin to spread stuffing on it and roll it. what about cutting a pocket in it and just stuffing the pocket?Also i would think that you'd use raw veal vs. cooked.the ground veal in the stuffing would cook as you slowly braised the veal breast
onepercent99 at 4:34PM on 06/19/08
The "recipe" sounds divine.
You could also butterfly the breast and it might not need much pounding. Then add your filling and roll. Where is the ground veal coming from? If you'd be taking it from the breast, I wouldn't bother. No need to pre-cook the veal or diced onions with such a long braise. A little sage tastes great with veal. I love everything in your stuffing! I'd use white wine to deglaze and add some chicken broth - not beef.
Let us know how you prepare it and how it turned out?
PerkyMac at 4:59PM on 06/19/08
OMG. What a walk down memory lane. My mom used to make "breast of veal" when I was a kid. She stuffed it with spinach and rice. It was so good.
chiff0nade at 8:15PM on 06/19/08
Thanks for the feedback!
@onepercent99--you're right: once I got home and looked at the veal, which officially weighs 2 pounds, I see that it would probably require considerable pounding to become flat enough for rolling once stuffed. So, cutting a pocket might be better, or...
....@PerkyMac--the suggestion to butterfly it might work as well. Guess I'd partially freeze it first to make cutting easier.
and:
@ chiffOnade--I had also thought of using rice with the spinach!
I actually have my Hungarian grandmother's recipe for what my family calls "veal pocket," but it uses a veal breast on the bone. I've never made it because I can't seem to get my brain around the idea of cutting a pocket with all those bones. Her stuffing involved crushed soda crackers, "scratched" chicken livers, green onions, parsley, and a heck of a lot of eggs. Oh, my favorite part? Coating the stuffed meat with Crisco! (What, no bacon grease?? hee hee....it seemed to go in everything else). Anyway, the written recipe calls for it to bake covered, but with no liquid. This also concerns me.
Anyway, if I make it this weekend (instead of freezing the meat for a later experiment), I'll report back.
Thanks again!
CheesePlease at 11:40PM on 06/19/08
An addendum to my last post: I hope my bacon grease comment didn't sound disrespectful of my late grandmother. Like many, many women of her generation, she worked hard in the kitchen every day to make meals from scratch for a large family of limited means during hard economic times. Her children still talk about what a wonderful cook and baker she was. And as a final P.S., bacon is one of my top 3 favorite foods!
CheesePlease at 12:12AM on 06/20/08
Wow, we had our first veal breast experience last month bc of the same reason. Hubby cannot resist a super-sale. We ended up with veal breast that still had the bone in. I asked onepercent99 at his website what it was, what to do, etc. We stuffed and braised and it was surprisingly tender and flavorful. Your recipe is very similar to what I found on-line as is the method--I just used my LeCrueset dutch oven and browned on the stovetop, braised in the oven. I don't think I did two whole hours, though. Can't remember. I do remember that most of the fat had cooked away, but what connective tissue and fat remained was not good and I later found some recipes recommending that they be tossed before serving.
wookie at 1:25PM on 06/20/08
I love this! I always buy the veal breast with the bone in. Have the butcher cut a pocket into it. Use whatever recipe you like to stuff it and roast it slowly. If you can twist the bones and pull them out easily then you know it's done. If it's boneless just use a meat thermometer.
@CheesePlease - I never use any liquid and roast it on a rack in a covered pan.
RichardCrystal at 1:30PM on 06/20/08
Now I can't decide if I should roast is slow & covered, or braise it. What to do? All I know is that for a total price of $5.89, even a mistake would not be too horrible. I do know that I'm taking it back to the butcher tomorrow, and they've promised to cut a pocket for me, since my knife skills are lacking. Or I should say, the fish guy tonight said the butcher would do it in the morning.
Question for Richard Crystal: if I include a little ground veal in the stuffing and dry roast it, should I precook the ground meat? Or will it cook sufficiently when encased with the other ingredients?
CheesePlease at 8:13PM on 06/20/08
We braised with liquid and we ended up losing some of the stuffing to the liquid. There was quite a bit of fat that rendered out of the veal breast, so whatever method you choose, it should still be moist. And it's going to take awhile, so I think using raw ground veal in the stuffing will cook through. One website I visited said it's like brisket or ribs, you want to cook it quite a while to break down those fibers, but it's worth the time because the flavor is quite good.
Good luck
wookie at 1:09PM on 06/21/08
Thanks, wookie! Tomorrow is the day I'll be cooking this. We'll see what happens. And the butcher today did cut the pocket for me. I was concerned that he wouldn't, since I actually purchased it mid-week and had to return it to the store for the assistance. But they were cool.
This store has some fabulous veal "manager's specials." Meaty long-bone rib chops, scallopine, shoulder cut for stew. All at a fraction of the normally high cost of veal. These are never advertised, just piled in a small section at the end of the meat counter. It's a grab bag, for sure. Some days all they have are a few pork chops, or nothing at all. You never know. Makes me feel like a little kid for some reason, since I get all excited by the surprise factor.
CheesePlease at 6:45PM on 06/21/08