81. Veal Paprika

I must confess that I like veal. A good Veal Marsala from a fine Italian establishment is just tops. I remember having a particularly good Marsala on Mulberry St. in NYC’s Lil’ It-lee with my old college roommate. This was years and years ago–well before 9/11. The entree was accompanied by sauteed broccoli rabe and a side of rigatoni in garlic and olive oil. It was divine. I have found that few restaurants even serve veal Marsala anymore, let alone a good one. And why do all pasta sides have to be topped with Marinara? I like mine in garlic and olive oil, damnit!

Anyway, I guess that a lot of restaurants don’t serve it anymore because veal has a bad rap. I am blissfully unaware of why (no, I don’t want to know). But for one reason or another (I never cooked before I decided to take on Dinner is Served!) I have not prepared veal. I was a veal virgin. Well there is a first time for everything and #81 was mine.

Let’s begin, shall we?

I purchased 1 lb of veal so I cut all of the ingredients in half. With the exception of the paprika. Paprika is in the name. I had to go balls-out with the paprika.

6:00: Veal is out of the freezer and defrosting. During the defrosting segment of our presentation I sliced the onion, chopped the parsley, and measured out the first few ingredients.

6:30: Veal is in the oil and browning.

6:42: By this time the onions, paprika, salt, and parsley have been added. The wine has gone in and the pot has been covered so the contents can simmer.

6:51: As soon as the lid was on the pot, I cut the cukes and peppers for the salad. By this point they were done and in bowls in the refrigerator.

6:56: the frozen carrots are in a sauce pan simmering in a wee bit of water.

7:03: carrots have been “glazed.” I use the term loosely. I consulted the Woman’s Own 365 Menu Cookbook by Marguerite Patten. Chances are you have no idea who Ms. Patten is. I didn’t know who the hell she was either until I came across her set of recipe cards.

These have now become my holy grail because I can’t get one in the U.S. You see, Marguerite is a British lady (some have referred to her as the British Julia Child), so her cookbooks and other ephemera were published in the UK. All of the available card sets I have found are in England, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. This box of over 950 recipe cards weighs a lot (as I am sure you can imagine). Do you know how much that costs to ship this puppy to Baltimore from Australia? Let me tell you–it’s AU $90.75 (!) I am trying to find a set in Canada. It surely has to cost less to ship from Canada.

But I digress, I consulted the great Marguerite Patten and this was the recipe for Glazed Carrots:

How disappointing. Done. I didn’t even bother to take a photo.

7:o5: I placed the dessert in the oven. I could not find apple strudel at the Safeway and I sure as hell wasn’t going to make one so I went the convenient, easy route. Why, thank you Pepperidge Farm!

7:10: I put the water on to boil.

7:22: water was boiling so I put the noodles in.

7:24: I mixed the cornstarch and water to create a paste. That went into the veal mixture and was followed by the sour cream. Stir, stir, stir.

7:29: the noodles were cooked and drained. Plating commenced.

7:35: Dinner is Served!

If the veal had already been defrosted, this meal would have taken all of an hour, which I appreciate, considering that DiS! makes me do a lot of all-day menus.

The result was pretty good. It tasted like Beef Stroganoff but looked like Chicken Tikka Masala, so that confused my senses a bit. I looked at it and thought curry but then tasted it and it was sour cream. But #81 turned out fine. The noodles were under-cooked, but I think that had something to do with the fact that they were whole grain/high fiber.

I don’t know what kind of vegetable dish you would call the green peppers and cucumbers (a salad?), but it was pretty damn easy! I put ranch dressing on mine and ate it like a crudite.

The apple turnovers were excellent. But I wouldn’t expect anything less from Pepperidge Farm.

So that’s #81. Done.

A reminder, you can go and vote for what you think my half-way-there meal should be. I am so very close! I said that you can vote as many times as you like (which is true), but an unknown person went and stacked the ballot box for Sauerbraten. So if you had your heart set on Orange Duck or Seafood Mousse, you best get your butt over there.