Veal scallopini with mushroom and brandy cream sauce

I (Michelle) have always loved veal, especially thin scallopini. I love substituting veal for chicken to make some of our super-easy everyday chicken recipes a little fancier - piccata especially- and for a special treat I will modify Rochester's (in)famous "Chicken French" preparation.

We experimented with a couple of versions of this dish before adding, subtracting, altering and ending up with this easy, elegant, rich recipe.

Flour

Pepper

Butter

1T olive oil

2 4 oz veal cutlets, pounded to 1/4" thickness OR one package of veal scallopini

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

1c shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps sliced

1 c brandy

1T beef base

1 c chicken stock

1/2 c heavy cream

Dry the veal thoroughly, then pepper to taste and coat with flour.

Heat 1T butter and the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the veal and saute until brown on each side and cooked through. Transfer the veal to a plate and cover to keep warm.

In the same pan add the onion and saute until translucent (you may need to add a little more butter here). Add the mushrooms and saute until they begin to brown. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the brandy. Ignite (if that's what you are into!) and carefully let brandy evaporate. If you choose not to flame it, simmer until it is almost completely evaporated. Add the beef stock and chicken stock and boil for about 5 minutes. Add the cream and bring to a boil. If the veal has not stayed warm enough, put back in the pan for 1-2 minutes.

Serve the sauce over the veal. Tonight we paired this dish with steamed asparagus sprinkled with a little sea salt and drizzled with a balsamic vinegar reduction.

Enjoy!

Spicy Pork

This is another easy weeknight dish, albeit a pretty rich one so we have tried to cut back on it. The ease of this recipe and the white-wine cream sauce combined with the spicy chops put this high on my list of comfort foods. We came up with it one night by "experimenting", which pretty much consisted of dumping the contents of the spice drawer on a pork chop. The results were surprisingly yummy!

Here we listed the spices that we used, but definitely try whatever works for you. I recommend a base of cracked black pepper, paprika, and a little bit of seasoning salt.

Ingredients
2 thick-cut pork chops
Cracked black pepper
Paprika
Rosemary
Garlic powder
Seasoning salt
Dash of sage
1T butter
1T olive oil
1/2 of a shallot
1/2 c white wine
1/2 c cream
Chick peas (optional)

Coat the chops on both sides with the cracked pepper and paprika. Add the remaining herbs and spices to taste.
Heat the butter and olive oil in a non-stick saucepan over med-hi heat. When the pan is hot add the pork chops and reduce the heat to medium. Sear until each side is browned and the center has just turned from pink to a juicy white. Remove the chops from the pan and cover to keep warm.
In the same pan, heat the shallots until translucent and then add the wine. Heat the wine until boiling, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine to a glaze and then add the cream. Bring to a rolling boil and back down to medium. Simmer for 2-3 minutes, swirling regularly. Optionally, finish by swirling in a thin pat of butter to smooth and enrich the sauce. Just prior to serving, drain any juices that the pork chops have released on their covered plate into the sauce. Yummmmm.

Serving suggestions:
If you would like a starch with this meal we recommend serving it over chick peas rather than pasta for something different and a bit healthier. Just heat up a can (or don't heat, even!) drain and serve the meat over the garbanzos and the sauce over the meat.
Another alternative is to serve the sauce over the garbanzos and the chop over the sauce, which reduces your "sauce intake" just a little.
We have found that these yummy white-wine cream sauces are well-complemented by a plain green veggie like broccoli.

Tonight we had a special treat of a wine, thanks to Raleigh's Seaboard Wine putting a nice bottle on super-sale! We had a 2006 MacRostie Chardonnay, which was so toasty and oaky that I felt guilty sipping it on a weeknight with a regular ol' meal.

Quote of the night: "ROSEMARY, ROSEMARY ROSEMARY!" - Meesh (P.S. Hi Tina!)