Veal Scallopini
This recipe only takes about 5-10 minutes to prepare and then 15 minutes to cook, so if serving with vegies or rice make sure that you prepare them in advance so your timing isn't all out.
* 1kg of veal steaks - Sliced thinly and each cut into about the size of a round fist
* 250g fresh mushrooms - Diced finely
* 2 small or 1 large onion
* 2 tbsp of Thickened Cream (Next time going to try yoghurt)
* 5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or a couple of tbsp minced
* 1/2 tsp of dried oregano or fresh if you have it
* 1 1/2 cups of white wine (I used a very cheap chardonnay. You could also use a dry sherry or vermouth if you have it)
* 1/2 cup of flour (any sort would do spelt/buckwheat/rice or even corn flour)
2 tsp butter and a little olive oil
1 cup chicken or beef stock
1 tbsp of Lemon juice (or the juice of one lemon)
salt and pepper to taste
Mix flour and a tsp of salt/pepper in a plastic bag. Pat down the veal steaks with a paper towel just to remove any excess liquid on their surface. Add veal steaks to flour and cover them completely with the flour mix. This process is called dredging and gives you a thin crust of tasty crunch over the outside of each steak. Make sure when you pull them out of the bag though you shake off the excess flour before cooking. Grab two pans, I used a fry pan and a big heavy based pot. Put half the butter in each and add a splash of olive oil to both pans.
Add the onions, mushrooms and garlic to the big pan. Sauté this mixture gently (on a lowish heat) until the onions start going golden, probably about 3 minutes. In the other pan, start putting in the veal pieces, do not overcrowd the pan. What you want to do with the veal is just brown each side for two minutes and remove from the pan. So you can do it in batches. Keep doing the veal pieces until they are all done, while stirring the other pan.
Once your mushroom mix is looking good, add the wine, stock, lemon juice and oregano. You want to simmer this liquid until it reduces to about half of its size. This should take about 5 minutes. Once it is reduced, add the veal steaks into the mix to warm up, make sure you spoon the liquid over them, put the lid on the pan and leave for a couple of minutes. Then right before serving add the cream and mix through make sure you cover the veal.
Done!
Note: I am going to try natural yoghurt with both of these recipes as they were delicious but I am not happy using cream, as it is not something we generally have in the cupboard plus is very fattening!
Spiced Carrot and Pumpkin Mash
* 300g carrots, cut into chunks, (I don't peel so we get the goodness!)
* 400g pumpkin, peeled, deseeded, diced (Usually don't peel pumpkin but it would make the mash look icky)
* 1/4 cup thickened cream (next time I am going to use natural yoghurt)
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Boil or steam the veggies, sprinkle over nutmeg, mash and then stir in cream. Easy peasy and tasted quite nice as an alternative.
Note: Liam doesn't like normal baked pumpkin but he will eat pumpkin soup, and he ate the mash!
