Last week, in preparation for Easter, Marily and I sat at the kitchen counter wondering what we were going to make this year. We already decided on a pot luck gathering...but had no idea what to make. A traditional ham...ugh, too boring. A roast lamb or lamb chops....mmm, sounds good, but I've made that before (delicious, grilled toasted curry lamb chops with a shallot vinaigrette, yum). No, neither would do...I needed something different...something new.
Alas, Marily was paging through the newspaper ads and came across one for Sedano's supermarket: Veal breasts, 99 cents/lb. Perfect! First, we are trying to be more budget conscience and second, I've never made a veal breast. A few minutes with Google at my fingertips and I found an intriguing recipe: Confit of Veal Breast. I've watched plenty of cooking competition shows and at some point one of the chefs always bust out with a confit of something. Now was my chance. This recipe was found on The Splendid Table website and was originally from The Rosengarten Report.
We were cooking for 10 adults and 3 kids, so I basically doubled the recipe found at the link above.
Ingredients
- (2) 4lb slab of bone-in veal breast
- 2 cups of low sodium chicken broth
- 2 cups of beef stock
- 1 1/2 cups of dry white wine (I used a Frontera Chardonnay from Chile, only $5 and actually decent)
- 6 shallots, peeled
- 2 heads of garlic, separated into cloves and peeled
- Bunch of fresh thyme
- 4 bay leaves
- 3 teaspoons of whole black peppercorns
- coarse sea salt (to season veal breast)
- fresh cracked black pepper (to season the veal breast)
Cookware
- Deep roasting pan
- (2) cookie sheets
- Heavy duty aluminum foil
Preparation
- Prepare and measure out all your ingredients. Nothing makes cooking more enjoyable and easy than preparing all your ingredients ahead of time. Chef's would call this mis en place
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees (I used the roast setting). Position the rack about midway
- Place veal breasts into roasting pan and generously season it on both sides with the coarse sea salt and fresh cracked pepper
- Roast the veal breast for 20 minutes. This gives the veal some color as the outside crisps under th heat and starts to render the fat
- Remove the veal breast from oven and reduce temperature to 300 degrees
- Add the shallots, garlic, thyme, bay leaves and peppercorns to the roasting pan. Pour in the chicken broth, beef stock and wine...hell-oooooooo braising liquids, nice to meet you!
- Cover the roasting pan with a double layer of heavy duty aluminum foil and return to the oven to cook for another 3 1/2 hours
- Remove and let cool slightly. Your braising liquids should be a rich brown color and your kitchen should smell amazing!
- Line one of the cookie sheets with aluminum foil. Carefully transfer the tender veal breasts to the cookie sheet. Remove the bones and connective tissue (as much as possible without tearing the meat apart). Depending on how tender the meat is, you may need to use a combination of your hands and a sharp knife. Be care, that veal is HOTTTT! Cut each veal breast into even pieces (as much as possible) and then place on top of each other (creating 2 layers). Place any loose meat (that you don't eat) in between the layers.
- Wrap the entire cookie sheet in aluminum foil and then place the second cookie sheet on top. Place both in the refrigerator and use canned food or a 12 pack of soda/beer to weigh it down. This compresses the veal breast together, kind of like making a giant veal panini. Refrigerator overnight
- Strain the braising liquids into a clean container and let cool for about 30 minutes before refrigerating
- When ready to server the next day, use a sharp, serrated knife to cut the pressed veal breast into approximately 2 1/2 inch square pieces
- Skim the top of the refrigerated braising liquid and pour into a sauce pan
- Bring the liquid to a simmer and reduce to concentrate the flavors
- Heat a pan with some olive oil and add the veal breast squares.
- Cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side or enough to heat the inside and crust the top and bottom of the square
- Pour the sauce over the veal breast and serve
Unfortunately, I was totally in the zone and neglected to take pictures as I finished up the dish. I think I need to employ Marily as the official photographer to make sure we don't miss out on any pictures in the future!
This was an amazing dish which received rave reviews from our guests and my wife, my most important critic! The veal was full of flavor but not overpowering and reminded some of a roast pig or pernil. It takes time to prepare this dish, but most of it is either in the oven or the refrigerator, so it's not very difficult. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
Heck, at about a dollar per pound why not? I know I'll be making this again!
Confit of Veal Breast...Done!
