One Pan, Two Plates (19 page)

1.
Sprinkle the veal with salt and pepper.

2.
Heat a 12-in/30.5-cm skillet over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. When the oil shimmers, add the bacon and cook, stirring, until it renders its fat but hasn’t browned, about 2 minutes. Add the veal to the hot pan and sauté on the first side for 1 minute. Turn and sauté on the second side for another minute. Transfer the veal to a plate.

3.
Add the onion, Brussels sprouts, apple, garlic, ½ tsp salt, and a grind or two of pepper to the hot pan. Sauté the vegetables, with an occasional good stir, until they soften and begin to brown around
the edges, about 8 minutes. Add the wine and cook, stirring a few times, for another 2 minutes. Taste and season the vegetables with more salt and pepper if they need it. Return the veal to the pan (along with any juices accumulated on the plate), laying it on top of the vegetables. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to low. Cook the vegetables and meat for another 2 minutes to heat up the veal and finish cooking the sprouts.

4.
Divide the veal and hash between two warmed plates. Squeeze the lemon over the top, garnish with the chives, if desired, and serve hot.

variation:
If veal isn’t your thing, just substitute 2 boneless pork chops. They will need to cook a few minutes longer, since they will be a thicker cut. Cut them in half through the thickness and/or pound them to ¼ in/6 mm thick or so and cook for about 3 minutes per side.

it’s that easy:
Veal scallops are thin rounds, usually cut from the center of the leg portion. You may find fresh scaloppine in the meat department, but they are often cut to order because they dry out quickly, so ask the butcher. To pound the scallops for this recipe, working with one at a time, place a scallop between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper and, using the flat side of a meat pounder or a small, heavy skillet, pound to a thickness of about ⅛ in/3 mm. Be careful not to tear the meat.

extra hungry?
Drizzle ciabatta bread slices with olive oil and toast them under the broiler. Sprinkle with shredded fontina cheese and broil again until the cheese is melted and lightly browned.

in the glass:
Look for a food-friendly Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Gris from Geyser Peak. If you’re determined to drink red tonight, try a medium-bodied Pinot Noir from Chalone or Estancia.

Veal Saltimbocca

with
ASPARAGUS, LEMON,
and
ISRAELI COUSCOUS

I love how Italians often name dishes for how they make you feel, not what’s inside them. For instance,
saltimbocca
literally means “jump in the mouth”—a perfect name for this dish, because the salty prosciutto and earthy sage make your taste buds jump with joy at every bite. The tiny extra step of sautéing up some asparagus and couscous makes this a complete meal fit for any Roman, not to mention the many Americans who’d like to live like one. Count me in.

........

START TO FINISH
25 minutes

...

HANDS-ON TIME
25 minutes

...

serves 2

........

4 veal scallops (cutlets), about 3 oz/85 g each, pounded even thinner (see “It’s that easy,”
page 105
)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 thin slices prosciutto

4 large fresh sage leaves

1 tbsp unsalted butter, plus more if needed

1 shallot, thinly sliced

1 bunch asparagus, about 20 slender spears, tough woody ends snapped off, cut into ½-in/12-mm pieces

¼ cup/60 ml dry white wine

½ cup/120 ml chicken broth, plus more if needed

½ cup/85 g Israeli or pearled couscous (see “It’s that easy”)

2 tsp minced fresh chives

½ lemon, cut into wedges

1.
Season the veal with salt and pepper. Lay a slice of the prosciutto on top of each cutlet and place a sage leaf in the center of the prosciutto. As if you were pinning a hem (or diaper-pin style), insert a toothpick down through the sage, prosciutto, and veal and then back up through the meat and sage to secure it.

2.
In a 12-in/30.5-cm skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter. When the butter is melted and sizzling hot, add the veal packets prosciuttoside down. Cook until golden on the bottom, about 2 minutes, then flip and sauté on the second side for about 1 minute longer. Remove the pan from the heat and carefully transfer the saltimbocca to a warm plate. Pull out the toothpicks and cover to keep warm.

3.
Return the pan to medium-high heat and add the shallot and asparagus. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add a little more butter if the pan seems dry. Sauté the vegetables for 1 minute to heat them up (no longer or they will be overcooked and gray when the dish is done). Add the wine and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. The wine will bubble away in about 1 minute. Add the chicken broth and couscous and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the couscous and asparagus are tender, about 5 minutes. If the mix needs more time to tenderize, add a little more stock to keep things wet. Stir in the chives, taste for seasoning, and add more salt and pepper as desired.

4.
Arrange the saltimbocca on two warmed plates and scoop the couscous and asparagus on the side and garnish with the lemon wedges (a squeeze of lemon over the veal adds extra zing). Serve hot.

variation:
If veal is not available, or just not your favorite, feel free to substitute chicken, pork, or turkey cutlets and follow the directions exactly the same way. Just be sure that the meat is very thinly sliced and then pounded thinly or your cooking times will need to be increased.

it’s that easy:
Israeli couscous looks like little pearls. It’s actually pasta but, unlike its sibling, the more familiar small-grained, super-fast-cooking couscous, it takes about 5 minutes of cooking to tenderize. But don’t worry, you’ll have time—after the meat comes out of the pan, it will need to rest. It couldn’t be easier.

extra hungry?
If you can find good tomatoes, a classic caprese salad would be fabulous: just arrange slices of tomato and fresh buffalo’s-milk mozzarella on a platter, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Scatter torn fresh basil leaves over the top. Done.

in the glass:
I’d go for a red here. Try a Chianti Classico, or a Chianti Classico Riserva if you’re feeling like a splurge.

Veal Rolls

with
CURRANTS, PINE NUTS,
and
PARMESAN POLENTA STACKS

Little veal rolls stuffed with currants, parsley, Parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and bread crumbs are almost too delicious to make for Wednesday night. They shout, “It’s time to party and have fun!” I love the textures in this meal, from the stuffing with a mix of crunch and creamy to the polenta rounds with their soft insides and crunchy fried exteriors. Maybe it’s too early in the week to party, but at the very least, you can have a party in your mouth.

........

START TO FINISH
40 minutes

...

HANDS-ON TIME
30 minutes

...

serves 2

........

2 tbsp currants

2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus 1 tsp

½ cup/60 g freshly grated Parmesan cheese

3 tbsp panko bread crumbs

2 tbsp pine nuts

4 veal scallops (cutlets), about 3 oz/85 g each, pounded even thinner (see “It’s that easy,”
page 105
)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

Eight ½-in/12-mm slices precooked, ready-to-heat polenta (see “It’s that easy”)

1 shallot, minced

⅓ cup/75 ml dry white wine

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1.
Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C/gas 5. In a small bowl, combine the currants with hot water to cover and let stand for 5 minutes.

2.
Scoop up 1 tbsp of the currant-soaking liquid and transfer it to a medium bowl. Drain the currants and add them to the bowl along with the 2 tbsp parsley, ¼ cup/30 g of the Parmesan, the panko, and pine nuts. Mix the ingredients with a fork until evenly moistened.

3.
Lay the veal on the work surface and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spoon equal amounts of the stuffing down the length of the veal strips. Spread
in a thin layer, leaving a border of about ½ in/12 mm around the edges uncovered. Starting at a narrow end, gently roll up each into a tight cylinder. Secure the rolls with toothpicks.

4.
Heat a 12-in/30.5-cm ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat and add 1 tbsp of the olive oil. When it shimmers, add the polenta rounds and cook until browned and crispy on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Carefully flip them over with a thin-edged spatula and cook until browned on the second side, another 2 minutes or so. Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup/30 g Parmesan on four of the rounds, dividing it evenly, and then top them with the uncheesed rounds. The cheese should melt and act as a kind of glue to hold the polenta stacks together. Transfer to a plate and cover to keep warm.

5.
Scrape up any polenta scraps in the pan with the spatula and discard them (or nibble them up). Add the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil to the hot pan and add the veal rolls. Cook, turning as needed, until golden on all sides, about 4 minutes total. Return the polenta rounds to the pan and transfer to the oven to reheat the polenta and finish cooking the veal, about 8 minutes.

6.
Remove the pan from the oven (be careful, the handle will be blazing hot) and transfer the rolls and polenta rounds to two warmed plates. Cover to keep warm. Carefully return the pan to medium-high heat and add the shallot to the pan juices, stirring until softened, about 1 minute. Add the wine and cook, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, until the liquid is reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the butter, swirling the pan to melt it. Drizzle the wine sauce over the veal rolls, garnish the plates with the 1 tsp parsley, and serve hot.