Veau de chasseur a la bordelaise

Servings: 4

 

 

 

Ingredients:

 

2 pounds large red potatoes (for 45-50 potato balls) 

 

2 ½ pounds veal, cut in 1 inch x 1 inch cubes

 

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

 

8 mediun-sized cloves pf garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

 

4 sprigs fresh lemon thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme and 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

 

15 small yellow, white and/or red pearl onions, peeled

 

8 ounces quartered crimini mushroom caps

 

2/3 cup veal or chicken stock  

 

1 ½ cups peeled, deseeded and crushed tomatoes

 

1 cup slender carrots, peeled and cut into 1” pieces

 

4 tablespoon sweet, unsalted butter

 

2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar

 

Garnish:’

2 tablespoons minced fresh chives or parsley’

 

 

 

Directions:

 

 

Chef’s note: Potato balls allow all of the vegetables to cook in approximately the same amount of time. Use a melon ball to carve olive-sized potato balls from the peeled potatoes. This will result in a large amount of raw leftover potatoes that can be used in other recipes requiring pieces of potato.

 

 

Prepare the potato balls first.

 

Fill 2 medium-sized bowls halfway with cold water.  

 

Peel potatoes and place them in cold water.

 

Use a melon baller to carve out consistently shaped and sized potato balls from a peeled potato. The resulting potato balls should all be about the size of an olive.

 

Place the potatoe balls in the empty bowl of cold water. Return the unused potato pieces to the original bowl of cold water.

 

Continue with the rest of the peeled potatoes until there are 45-50 potato balls.  Reserve scraps of pototo for other recipes.

 

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add grapeseed oil.

 

When the grapeseed oil shimmers, add veal cubes. Do not crowd skillet. If necessary, do two batches.

 

Turn each cube to the next side until all sides of each cube has browned.

 

When all sides are browned, reserve meat in a bowl.

 

Drain potato balls. Pat dry. Add to cast iron skillet. Saute pototes until they are golden, shaking occasionally to be certain they do not stick to the skillet.

 

 

Chef’s Note: The pototes must be dried or they will stick to the skillet.

 

 

Add mushrooms. Saute until the mushrooms begin to sweat.

 

Add thyme (or thyme and zest), stock, garlic, carrots, tomatoes, onions, and reserved veal.

 

Cover skillet and simmer on low heat for 50 minutes. Stir carefully, as necessary, to prevent mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Do not allow mixture to go dry.

 

Remove meat and vegetables from skillet and place in serving dish. Cover to keep warm.

 

Add salt and pepper to taste.

 

Add butter to cooking liquid in the skillet and stir until butter has melted and is incorporated into the liquid. Do not brown the butter.

 

Add Balsamic vinegar.  Stir.

 

Pour sauce over Veau de chasseur a la bordelaise.

 

Garnish.

 

Serve alone with sopping bread, or over pureed white beans or wide egg noodles 

 

 

Chef’s Note:  Princess Alisna Serafina of Montenegro questioned the addition of Aiole Mornay to the dish.  While Mr. Paladin, a noted gourmond, was insistent upon this addition, I defer to the Princess.