Category: Main Dishes

Blanquette de veau printanière

Natalie Hanson

This is my very favorite dish!  Serves 8 to 10.

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 lb veal shoulder cut into 2″ pieces
Salt and pepper
2 Tbsp flour
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup of dry white wine
1 cup of homemade chicken stock
Bouquet garni
2 Tbsp butter
25 to 30 small onions, peeled
1 Tbsp of sugar
1/2 lb of mushrooms
1/2 cup of cream and 1 egg yolk mixed
1 Tbsp chopped parsley

  • In a heavy casserole or pan, heat the oils.
  • Brown pieces of veal well on both sides, making sure they do not touch each other.
  • Continue until all the veal is browned. Put it in a large casserole.
  • Sprinkle with salt and pepper and the flour.
  • Stir and saute for a few minutes.
  • Add the garlic, wine, chicken stock, bouquet garni and bring to a gentle boil.
  • Reduce heat and simmer gently for 1-½ hours.
  • Meanwhile, melt 1 Tbsp of butter in saucepan and add the onions.
  • After they are slightly brown, sprinkle them with the sugar and sauté a few more minutes.
  • Add to the casserole.
  • In the same saucepan melt another Tbsp of butter, add the mushrooms and cook until all the moisture has evaporated.
  • Add to the casserole.
  • After 1-½ hours make sure the meat is tender.
  • With a slotted spoon gently remove the meat, mushrooms and onions on a serving platter.
  • Reduce the remaining sauce in the casserole, if needed.
  • Remove from the heat.
  • Mix cream and egg yolk and add to sauce. Ladle some of it on top of the meat.
  • Pour the rest in a bowl to pass around for extra.
  • Garnish the platter with parsley and decorate with glazed carrots.
  • Serve rice on the side.

Glazed carrots

  • Cut lengthwise to have sticks about 3 inches long.
  • Simmer in water for 5 minutes.
  • Drain well.
  • In a saucepan melt 2 Tbsp butter, add 2 Tbsp of granulated sugar and the carrots.
  • Sauté for a few minutes.

Blanquette de veau à l’ancienne

Natalie Hanson

Serves 6-8 people.

3 lb of boneless veal in 2 inch chunks
6 cups of chicken stock, home made or canned
2 carrots, cut into chunks
1 large onion, quartered
2 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
2 celery tops
1 leek
Bouquet garni, salt, pepper

  • Blanch the veal: in a large casserole, cover the veal with cold water, bring it quickly to a boil, and let simmer for 1 minute before draining it in a large sieve.
  • Wash any residue off the pieces of meat under cold running water, scrub the casserole, and replace the veal in it.
  • Cover the veal with the chicken stock, and supplement the stock with water if necessary.
  • Add the carrots, onion, bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaf, parsley), garlic cloves, and the salt.
  • Slowly bring the stock to a boil, and skim the surface of any residual scum.
  • Then, reduce the heat to barely simmer the liquid.
  • Cook partially covered for 1 to 1-1/2  hours, or until tender.
  • While the veal is simmering prepare the white onions and the mushrooms.

The vegetables

20 to 25 small white onions, peeled and left whole
2 Tbsp of butter
2/3 cup of chicken stock
1 tsp of lemon juice, 1 lb of mushrooms, sliced

  • In a large saucepan you can cover tightly, heat together 2 Tbsp of butter and the stock.
  • Slowly bring this to a boil and, when the butter has melted, add the onions.
  • Cover the pan, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 30 minutes.
  • Turn the onions every now and then.
  • If the stock cooks away, add a little more from the veal in the casserole.
  • When the onions are cooked – pierced easily with a pointed knife – remove them from the pan with the slotted spoon, and set them aside in a bowl.
  • In the same pan, stir 1 tsp of lemon juice in the remaining stock, bring it to a boil, and add the mushrooms.
  • Cook them briskly for 5 minutes, remove then from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside with the onions.
  • Pour any remaining liquid into the simmering casserole with the veal.

The velouté sauce

3 Tbsp of flour
3 Tbsp of butter
2 large egg yolks
1 cup of cream

  • When the veal is cooked, remove all the pieces from the casserole and strain the stock into a saucepan (press down on the vegetables).
  • Carefully drain the veal, onions and mushrooms of any juices collected in their bowls and add to the stock to be reduced as well.
  • Bring the stock to a boil and reduce to 2 cupfuls to use for the velouté sauce.
  • Melt the butter and stir the flour into it.
  • Cook this roux over low heat for a minute without browning it.
  • Then, slowly add the two cups of reserved veal stock.
  • Raise the heat and bring the sauce to a boil.
  • Lower the heat and let cook for 5 minutes longer.
  • Meanwhile mix together the egg yolks and the cream and pour into the sauce.
  • Season to taste.
  • Place the meat and the mushrooms and onions in a clean casserole.
  • Pour the sauce over them.
  • Gently but thoroughly mix.
  • Heat once more and sprinkle with parsley.

Blanquette d’agneau des bords du Rhone

Natalie Hanson

3-1/2 lbs shoulder of lamb
2 medium onions finely chopped
2 carrots, chopped
Salt, pepper
Bouquet garni
1/2 cup of beurre manié
2/3 cup of mayonnaise
Juice of lemon

  • Remove the meat from the bones, trim excess fat and cut the meat into 2 inch cubes.
  • Heat a bit of oil in a large pan, add the onions and carrots and cook, stirring all the time, for 5 minutes.
  • Do not brown.
  • Add the meat and seal in the oil but do not let brown.
  • Pour in enough hot water to cover the meat, add the salt, pepper and bouquet garni, simmer gently for 1 hour or more.
  • Add the beurre manié a little at a time over the heat until a creamy sauce is obtained and the flour is cooked.
  • Remove the meat and vegetable in a hot serving dish after draining the sauce from them.
  • Discard the bouquet garni and place the meat in a warm serving dish. Reserve.
  • Mix a little of the sauce with the homemade mayonnaise, return to the pan, mix well and add lemon juice and seasoning.
  • Strain some sauce over the meat, garnish with the vegetable and sprinkle with parsley.
  • Serve the rest of the sauce separately.

Garnish (cooked separately and tossed in butter)

1/2 lb of green beans
1/2 lb of carrots
Parsley

Mayonnaise

  • Beat 2 egg yolks with 1 tsp of Dijon mustard and a dash of white pepper.
  • Drip about 1 cup of olive oil in this mixture, slowly at the beginning and faster when it starts to thicken.
  • Add 2 Tbsp of lemon and some salt.

Beurre manié

  • 1/4 cup of butter worked together with 1/2 cup of flour.