Braised Breast of Veal

I picked Cotton up at the airport Friday night. She's home from college for winter break. We fought our way home from La Guardia, made small talk with the family, and then fulfilled Cotton's urgent need for chicken parm at Piccolo. Fed and watered, we made our way across the parking lot to the grocery store, searching for inspiration for Saturday dinner and gathering supplies for Sunday's bolognese.

We started in the meat department, since all great meals start with meat. Okay, not really...but I kinda wanted to braise something. Or else roast something. Or something. I perused the usual suspects and considered them carefully when...what is this wedged between chicken thighs and pork chops!? Why, it's none other than the elusive Breast of Veal! I've never seen that in our grocery before, so I bought the biggest piece they had: nearly 4 lbs for a mere $6.

While some people were dreaming of dancing sugar plum fairies Friday night, I was dreaming of the baby goat I had recently at Scarpetta. How tender and unctuous it was! Its perfectly rich jus bathing small dice of fingerling potatoes! This is what I wanted from my breast of veal. I awoke and drafted some braising plans.

Cotton and I started a biga Friday night for Saturday's dinner. I got her up at about 9:30, which I consider a massive triumph. We got the bread going and commenced work on the veal, but...the phone rang. It was Mom, letting us know we were +2 for dinner. By this point, I had actually looked at the meat I bought and realized it was virtually all bone and other...stuff. Good tasting, probably, but not much meat. So back to the grocery store we went, hoping and praying there was still some breast of veal left. Success! There was, and we picked a pretty piece, a little smaller than the original.

Back at the ranch, I rubbed the veal with a little vegetable oil, kosher salt, and black pepper. I carefully browned ALL surfaces in my favorite Le Creuset dutch oven. Retrospectively, I could have browned the meat a bit more, but I was battling the clock. I took the meat out and added some sliced onions. I had great dreams of browning half of them a la French onion soup and then adding the rest, but remember the clock? I did, so I just cooked the onions down a little in some bacon fat. I added some tomato paste and cooked it until it got beautifully rusty, then added garlic, carrot, celery, herbs, and beef stock. I brought it to a boil, covered it, and then put it in a 350F oven. I had to finish it on the stove because we had to bake the bread.

Once the veal was fall-off-the-bone tender, I took it out and let it cool down. I figured slicing it was out of the option, so I pulled it off the bone and chunked it. I strained the liquid and did my best to reduce it, but I was concerned about it getting too salty from reducing the stock. I put the meat back into the gravy and served it over egg noodles along with some sauteed root vegetables (beet, turnip, parsnip, potato, carrot).

The verdict? The veal was good, but not amazing. It just tasted like pot roast, which I guess isn't a bad thing. The flavors were very rich though, and I'll bet that leftover gravy is all gelled up. I wouldn't bother with that piece of meat again unless I know it had more...meat. It was a lot of work pulling all the little bits of meat off the bones, fat, and other junk. Plus, it kind of grossed me out just a little. It would probably make a great veal stock though, or could be used to flavor a tomato sauce or something.

Breakfast: 2 fried eggs & hash browns
Lunch: leftover Chinese
Dinner: braised veal, egg noodles, sauteed root vegetables, whole wheat bread & butter
Snacks: buttered popcorn, tea with honey