This delectable veal chops recipe is from a wonderful meat, sauce, marinade and side dish cookbook called Steak with Friends: At Home, with Rick Tramonto.
This recipe may require a few more steps than many of the recipes on the site, but it is absolutely delicious and a wonderful recipe for entertaining.
This is what chef Rick Tramonto says about his veal chops recipe:
“I developed this dish one day after a trip to the farmers’ market when the cavalo nero was plentiful and gorgeous and found that braising it and serving it with veal chops made a perfect fall meal. This would also be tasty with pork chops. When I cook veal chops, I never cook them past medium-done, and prefer them to be medium-rare so that they are juicy and succulent.”
“Sometimes called Tuscan kale, cavalo nero is a member of the same family as cabbage, kale, and broccoli and is recognized by its tall stalks and narrow green leaves. I have listed Swiss chard as a substitute for the cavalo nero, but I hope you will make every effort to find the real thing. Nothing is as good for this preparation, which is a little hot, a little bitter, and extremely tasty.”
“In this dish, I mix it with hominy, which is nothing more exotic than dried corn kernels that have been soaked in an alkali solution to remove their outer skins and then are boiled for hours. When you buy hominy-which is sold in cans-the kernels look a little like soft, puffy corn kernels and add the gentle flavor of corn to the greens.”
Veal Chops with Braised Cavalo Nero, Lemon, & Olive Oil
Ingredients
- 2 lemons
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- Kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons rosemary, chopped fresh
- 2 tablespoons thyme, chopped fresh
- 6 tablespoons olive oil, extra-virgin
- black pepper, Freshly ground
- 4 veal chops, rib chops, Frenched, each 14 to 16 ounces and about 1 1/2 inches thick
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade
- 2 tablespoons butter, unsalted, cut into pieces
- 1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley, chopped fresh
- Cavalo Nero, below
- 1 cup Red Wine Sauce, below
Instructions
- Zest one of the lemons and set the zest aside. Juice the 2 lemons and set the juice aside.
- On a cutting board, mash the garlic with a pinch of salt. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in the rosemary and thyme. Stir in 3 tablespoons of olive oil and season with pepper.
- Pat the veal chops dry with paper towels and rub the garlic paste all over. You can prepare the chops up to this point 24 hours ahead of time, cover, and refrigerate.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Sear the chops, turning once, for a total of 6 minutes, or until golden brown. You will have to do this in batches. Transfer the chops to a shallow roasting pan. Do not wash the skillet.
- Roast the chops for 20 to 25 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted horizontally into the chops registers 135° to 140°F for medium-rare.
- Meanwhile, in the same skillet, bring the lemon juice and wine to a boil over high heat and, with a wooden spoon, scrape up the browned bits sticking to the pan. Boil for about 5 minutes, or until reduced to about 1/4 cup. Add the stock and boil for about 5 minutes longer, or until the sauce reduces to about 3/4 cup.
- Remove the chops from the roasting pan. Pour any pan drippings into the wine sauce. Bring to a boil and add the butter, a piece at a time, stirring it into the sauce until incorporated. Do not add another piece until the one before is incorporated. Season to taste with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, mix together the lemon zest and parsley.
- Divide the cavalo nero among 4 serving plates. Top each serving with a veal chop and spoon the sauce over each. Drizzle the chops with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, sprinkle with the lemon and parsley mixture, and serve.
Nutrition
Cavalo Nero
2 bunches cavalo nero or Swiss chard, stemmed and cleaned
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 sprig rosemary, 2 to 3 inches long
1 dried red chili d’arbol
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Kosher salt
1 (29-ounce) can hominy, drained and rinsed
Freshly ground black pepper
In a large pot filled about halfway with salted boiling water, blanch the cavalo nero for about 2 minutes. Drain and let cool. When cool, squeeze the excess water from it with your hands.
In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. When hot, add the rosemary and chili and let sizzle in the oil for about 1 minute. Add the onion and garlic and season with salt. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook gently for about 10 minutes, or until the onion is soft and starting to color slightly.
Add the cavalo nero and stir to mix well. Season with more salt and cook the greens slowly over low heat, stirring often, for about 25 minutes, until they turn a dark, almost black color and become slightly crispy at the edges.
Add the hominy, stir well, and cook for 5 to 10 minutes longer, until heated through. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.
Serves 4
Red Wine Sauce
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 medium shallots, minced
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup Veal Jus (below)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until translucent.
Raise the heat to high, add the wine and veal jus, and bring to a boil. Simmer until the liquid is reduced by half.
Add the vinegar and mustard and cook until the sauce has the consistency you like. It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. This will help thicken the sauce a little more and give it a nice glossy appearance. Add the thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately, or let the sauce cool to room temperature and refrigerate in a lidded container for up to 24 hours. Reheat gently and stir well before using.
Makes 1/2 cup, 4 servings
Veal Jus
Makes about 2 quarts
10 pounds meaty veal bones
About 8 quarts water
1 pound carrots, roughly chopped
1 pound onions, roughly chopped
4 large leeks, trimmed and roughly chopped
4 sprigs fresh thyme
4 large sprigs flat-leaf parsley
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Lightly oil 2 large shallow roasting pans. In one of the prepared pans, arrange the bones in a single layer. Roast for 30 to 45 minutes, until golden brown.
Transfer the bones and any meat attached to them to a 14-quart stockpot and cover with the water. You can do this in 2 pots if you don’t have a large one. Scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the roasting pan into the pot, too. Avoid the fat. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Skim any foam and impurities that rise to the surface. Reduce the heat to medium-low, partially cover, and simmer for 6 to 8 hours or longer. Adjust the heat up or down to maintain a gentle simmer.
Meanwhile, spread the carrots, onions, and leeks in the second roasting pan and roast for 20 to 30 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool the vegetables, cover, and refrigerate until needed. During the last 2 hours of simmering, add the roasted vegetables to the stock, along with the thyme, parsley, bay leaf, peppercorns, and tomato paste, and stir well.
Cool the stock in a sink filled with cold water and ice cubes. When cool, skim the fat off the surface. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into 2 smaller pots. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and simmer for about 1 hour, or until reduced to 2 quarts.
Let the stock cool to room temperature and then refrigerate, uncovered, until cold. Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 3 months.
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