Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Blanquette de Veau



Bob and I have two favorite dishes that have their roots in French peasant kitchens. Mine is Cotes de Pork L'Auvergnate, a wonderful dish of pork and cabbage that's braised in cream. Bob's is Blanquette de Veau, a white veal stew that's made with mushrooms and pearl onions that comes from Normandy. Veal, other than cutlets, is difficult to come by here. Every now and then, veal stew meat appears in one of our supermarkets and when it is available I buy all of it I can. We really love this dish and for years I served it for dinner on Christmas Eve. All cooks have dishes they make from memory. These two recipes have been burned into mine and I put them together as easily as some folks throw together a meatloaf. Practice makes perfect. It helps that they are very easy to do. Last week I was able to buy veal stew meat and made Bob his favorite stew. Here's the recipe.

Blanquette de Veau - Veal Stew with Mushrooms and Onions...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:

3 pounds veal stew meat, cut in 2-inch cubes
2 quarts water
3 cups chicken broth
1 large carrot, peeled, in 3-inch chunks
1 large onion stuck with 1 whole clove
1 stalk celery, in 2-inch pieces
1 bouquet garni (1/2 bay leaf, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, 5 parsley sprigs) tied in a coffee filter
Salt
18 medium-size white mushrooms, trimmed
1/2 of 10-ounce bag frozen pearl onions
4 tablespoon butter
5 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste
3 egg yolks
Chopped parsley for garnish

Directions:
1) Place veal in a 4-quart casserole. Add water and bring to a boil. Simmer until heavy scum no longer rises, about 10 minutes. Drain and rinse veal. Wash pan and return meat to it. Add chicken broth, carrot, celery, onion and bouquet garni to veal. Salt lightly to taste. Simmer slowly, partially covered, until meat is tender, about 1 hours. Remove pan from heat. Let pot sit, uncovered, for about 30 minutes to allow veal to absorb flavor of cooking liquid. With a slotted spoon, remove veal from cooking liquid. Set aside. Remove vegetables and bouquet garni; discard. Strain cooking liquid into a large saucepan. Wash kettle and return veal to it along with cooking liquid. Add mushrooms and onions and cook for 30 minutes longer.
2) Remove meat and vegetables to a large bowl with a slotted spoon. Tent with foil to keep warm. Reserve 3 cups of cooking liquid; keep hot.
3) Melt butter in a 3 quart saucepan. Add flour and cook until flour and butter froth together for 2 minutes. Do not allow to brown. Slowly whisk in hot broth. Simmer for 10 minutes, skimming off any foam that appears on surface of sauce. Adjust seasoning and add lemon juice to taste (I generally use a tablespoon of lemon juice). Return veal, mushrooms and onions to sauce and toss gently to coat. Simmer for about 3 minutes. Blend egg yolks and cream in a small bowl. Add a ladle full of sauce to cream mixture to warm egg yolks. Remove veal from heat. Stir in cream mixture and return to a gentle heat. Stir gently until mixture thickens slightly, about 10 minutes. Do not let sauce come to a boil. Transfer to a warm serving bowl. Garnish with parsley and serve with rice or parsley buttered noodles. Yield: 6 servings.

Blanquette de veau

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Boeuf Bourguignon - One Perfect Bite
Braised Short Ribs Côtes du Rhône - One Perfect Bite
Crock-Pot Mediterranean Pot au Feu - One Perfect Bite

41 comments :

sweetlife said...

How lucky for Bob this is a beautiful dish, I love veal and it's also not avaiable here often, next time I find some I will surely make your recipe..just lovely

sweetlife

Kait said...

Bob's favorite stew sounds really good. I feel fortunate that veal is usually available at my local supermarket.

Jeannie said...

Bob must be pretty happy with his soup:D All the more tasteful when it's lovingly cooked by his wife:D
Cheers!

Diane said...

I have never yet managed to buy veal in the UK, the local butchers look at me in horror! France is a different matter and this is a dish I will certainly try. Have a good day. Diane

My Little Space said...

You make it sounds so delicious! I have no idea if I can make this. But pork definitley not my family favourite. Chicken meat sounds wonderful as well. Are you making this for Bob's birthday too? Hope you'll have a nice day!
Cheers, Kristy

MaryMoh said...

Bob is sure a lucky man! This dish looks delicious. I would pour it over my rice and enjoy...mmm. Have a lovely day and more cooking :D

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Absolutely beautiful Mary! And you've managed to make this dish so photogenic (I made this and really struggled to make it pretty).

Martha said...

We love this stew as well although we don't have it very often.

There are a lot of cows on the prairie -- you'd think veal would be easy to obtain -- but it isn't --

so we don't have this dish very often.

Bob was a lucky man last night!

Merisi said...

Julia Child called this particular recipe "blanchette de veau à l'ancienne" - I love it! Organic veal is occasionally available here in the supermarket and I buy it when that happens. I also like the dilled veal stew in the original Silver Palate cookbook, whit fresh dill added during the last minutes of cooking.

Thank you so much for leaving your kind comment on my blog, what a wonderful way to discover your blog! I shall be back! :-)

Allie and Pattie said...

Oh Mary, you brought back some memories. This was a favorite dish of my northern Nonna's- she loved French influenced dishes above all. I don't make it often because of the pricetag on veal here, but a couple of times a year, I must :)
xoxo Pattie

giorno26 ¸¸.•*¨*•. said...

Hi Mary,
questo è un piatto che " voglio " provare a preparare venerdì sera.
L'aspetto deve essere più che gustoso !
Happy day :-)

Rachel said...

veal with mushrooms...this I really need to try.

Schnitzel and the Trout said...

I have never had the pleasure of eating this beautiful dish, but veal is available here so it goes on the list!!!

Deb in Hawaii said...

What a gorgeous stew--I have been seeing local veal stew meat here lately--this looks like a perfect way to use it.

Salsa Verde said...

I love veau (veal) and that dish is fantastic!!
XXXX
Lia.

penny aka jeroxie said...

Lovely stew. One to keep in mind when I get hold of a nice piece of veal.

Katie@Cozydelicious said...

This looks lovely! I was looking at the veal stew meat at Wholefoods the other day and wondering what to do with it. Now I know. Yum!

Unknown said...

white mushrooms and pearl onions with any kind of meat are so well matched. lovely recipes.

have a good week

Sushma Mallya said...

wow that looks awesome mary..tasty dish

Jaynie said...

This reminds me of a veal stew my Grandpa used to make and I'm sure it is just as delicious. Aside from an occasional chop, I don't see veal in my area anymore.

Claudia said...

I can get veal - I just cannot aford it! This is one gorgeous meal - and the flavors do send me to France. I shall start saving.

Cherine said...

ur blanquette looks delicious!

June said...

Oh my this looks wonderful - so delicately seasoned. I'll be going on the hunt for veal so I can make it - darned it is hard to find isn't it?

Virginia said...

Merci for your visit to my Paris blog. I hope you will come and visit often. I'm delighted to find yours. I will forward to my daughter who has a small catering business and took some French cooking classes in Paris last fall!
V

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Such a comforting dish this would have been on our rainy days last week.

From the Kitchen said...

This is a dish that we enjoy very much. I haven't made it in awhile and will probably wait for cooler weather. We've gone from heat to air conditioning almost overnight!

Was the ghee a clue?

Best,
Bonnie

Holly said...

Looks wonderful:) Have a great day!

Deana Sidney said...

The first time I went to Paris, I had this dish at one of those cafes that the lost generation got lost in... sadly it wasn't very good but the atmosphere was.. priceless!

Carla and Michael said...

I too can rarely find veal here in NC. But when I do... I am certainly going to give this beautiful dish a try. I am also going to do a search for the pork and cabbage you referred to. That one sounds just as lovely.
Thanks.

Southern Fried Gal said...

Wow - you make beautiful food! I bet it tastes awesome, too!

Joanne said...

I love veal and wish I could have it more often. I can see why this is one of your favorite dishes!

tasteofbeirut said...

I used to eat blanquette as a kid, not too often but I loved it! Here I have a hard time finding good veal so I have never made it; I guess I could make it with pork?
Yours looks so good and authentic!

Cathy said...

I don't see veal very often in even the upscale shops. My grandmother could do magic with any cut and I particularly loved the breast of veal. Even specialty butcher shops don't carry it any more. If I should ever find veal I will prepare this lovely dish.

The Blonde Duck said...

I've never had veal, but I'm craving it now.

Miranda said...

Wonderful. This is an incredible comfort meal.

Thank you for stopping by. :)

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

Bob has excellent taste. This could easily become my favorite too. It's all most impossible to find veal here either.
Sam

Kathy Walker said...

Bob has great taste! I have had veal a few times but have never prepared it myself. This sounds very nice!

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

this sound comfort and delicious!

redmenace said...

My goodness. This looks gorgeous. Your husband is a lucky man and you should remind him frequently!

Sook said...

Wow, this looks totally awesome! Yummy!

Jamie said...

I love blanquette and make it regularly during the winter. Yours looks scrumptious. It is such a perfect, long-simmering dish. You should try my curried version which is wonderful! Bob would love it!

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