Veal Scallopini

My computer hates me.

Well, I suppose it is incapable of feelings but if it could have feelings, it would hate me. It is no longer working properly. I get about 10 minutes of use out of it before it crashes. So I'm going to avoid using it, which means this post has to be written really quickly before the computer crashes again. So, no long talks today, rather let's get straight into the food.

This is probably the most restaurant-y meal I've ever made. It tastes so thick and creamy, like it came out of a restaurant's kitchen. For this reason, it is definitely not the healthiest meal on the blog. In fact, it's definitely a delectable, luxurious Saturday date-night dish. It's easy to eat, easy to make and it will definitely impress - you will look like you can cook up a storm.

The mushrooms are the true heroes of this dish - soft and coated in the thick sauce, they shine through. As for the sauce: there is a hint of the bitter wine, but the tomato paste drowns it out. That's not to say the sauce is too tomato-ey; it's more creamy. At first, when you are making the sauce, it will seem very tomato-ey, but I swear, once you add the cream at the end, it is not. Overall though, the sauce has a hint of tomato and bitter wine, but it mostly tastes fabulous. I'm sorry, I don't quite know how to describe it. My writing muscles don't seem to want to work today. Just trust me and try out the dish.

P.S. Ignore my frequent use of tomato-ey. I am aware it's not a real word, it's just the best one to use here.
Level of Difficulty: Rather easy, if a little time consuming. You need to actually stand in the kitchen for the whole half hour it takes to make this dinner.

Average Cost: Relatively cheap if you can get your veal steaks cheap.

Main Ingredients: Veal steaks, mushrooms, wine, stock and tomato paste

Occasion: Dinner – maybe a luxurious weekend dish, as it is not exactly healthy

Menu Options: This is a pretty specific meal so I wouldn’t change much, except what you serve it with. I like to serve mine with mashed sweet potato and spinach, to add a bit of health to it. A side salad would also work. Or regular mashed potatoes.

From: Kevin and Jane’s Kitchen. I barely adapted it; added a few things and changed the measurements a little, but otherwise this recipe comes straight from Jane. It is definitely an amazing meal and she should get all the credit for this.

Serves 4

What you need:

4 – 6 veal steaks, depending on size and how much you eat
8 – 12 tsp flour
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large brown onion, sliced
250 grams mushrooms, sliced
¾ cup white wine
½ cup chicken stock
8 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
2 tbsp cooking cream or cream cheese

Parmesan, to serve

What to do:

Heat the oil and butter in a frypan over medium-high heat.

While that is heating, coat each side of a veal steak with 1 tsp of flour. Therefore, the amount of flour you need is related to how many veal steaks you have.

Place the veal steaks in the melted butter mixture and brown both sides.

Remove from the frypan and place on a plate covered with paper. This allows the oil to drain from the veal steaks.

Add more oil to the pan if necessary and add the onion and mushrooms to the pan. Cook for at least three minutes.

When the onion and mushrooms are relatively soft, add the wine, stock, paste and parmesan cheese. Mix together well so a thick red sauce is formed.

Allow the red sauce to bubble for a minute. Then, reduce the heat to medium and allow the mixture to simmer for two minutes.

Add the veal back to the pan and return the heat to medium-high. Cook for two to three minutes. The veal should be cooked through and very warm. The mixture should not be bubbling though.

Remove veal and place on serving plates.

Add the cooking cream/cream cheese to the mushroom and onion mixture and stir well. The mixture should thicken slightly and turn orange. It should no longer be red.

Divide the mushrooms up between the serving plates and place on top of veal. Serve warm, topped with parmesan cheese, with mashed sweet potato and spinach for a well rounded meal.