Veal Scaloppine with Lemon Sauce
One of our favourite things to order when in Italy is veal scaloppine. For some odd reason, given the many, many restaurant meals we’ve enjoyed over more than 9 weeks in Italy, I have never tried it with lemon. I was happy that my turn in the rotation allowed me to correct that.
No. I am not happy about my turn in the rotation causing a requirement for lamb kidneys in a few months but I guess you take the good with the bad.
This veal is good. Very good. Bloody good. So good that my mouth is drooling just thinking about how good this was when I originally made it back in June.
Sigh.
Tonight’s swordfish is a disappointment before I’ve even started cooking.
Anyway . . .
Sure, this is a great tasting dish. It’s simple too – the veal scaloppine is flattened (be sure to follow the directions Hazan provides on page 38) and dredged in flour. Once dredged, the veal is fried quickly in butter (mmmmmmm butter . . .). When cooked it is removed from the pan while a quick lemon sauce is pulled together.
Presto – you’re done. Does a turn in the kitchen get any better than that?
If you’ve never cooked veal before allow me to provide a wee, but very important, tip. Dredge it in the flour IMMEDIATELY prior to cooking. If you dredge and let those scaloppine sit for a spell you will end up with a sludge-like coating.
BAH
Dredge.
IMMEDIATELY Cook.
Make sauce.
Enjoy
If you want sludge go to the Olive Garden. (eeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk)
If you want a well cooked and delicately flavoured dish buy Hazan’s ‘Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking’ and cook up some love.
This veal is crisp – with the lemon sauce being the perfect counterpoint for the richness of the meat.
Some cooks suggest adding a splash of white wine to the pan as you make the sauce. Hazan does not and I am sure that there is a very good reason for this (as there is for ALL of her suggestions/directions/edicts).
There you have it, another Hazan hit to add to my cooking rotation.
Enjoy.
If you keep worrying about those kidneys it will be disaster, at the table if not in the kitchen. You may have a problem, however, in getting the kind of kidneys that make the dish work so well, kidneys from very young, small lambs. In Italy we use the milk-fed lambs known in Rome as abbacchio. You have excellent lamb in Canada, and I hope your butcher can help you out, if you give him enough notice.
Omitting the white wine in the scaloppine al limone is just a question of personal taste. I am sensitive to acid, and for me the lemon provides enough of it in this dish.
Thank you for pointing out that dredging in flour is not one of those ahead of time steps. The meat must fly into the pan before the flour coating soaks up too much moisture.
Jerry, have to laugh. Was perusing the blog to see what veal I would like tonight. This sounded very good and easy–I love easy. So went to my book and–lo and behold–next to this recipe, I had written “Good–Casey liked it, too!!) So, tonight’s meal is planned–now off to the butcher shop–yes, a real, honest to goodness butcher shop in 2010. Good, good meats and will do anything for you. Think I’ll have them pound the veal.
Marcella, your comment regarding abbacchio and kidneys reminded me of Maria, one of your former students!
Since Maria and her husband lived in Rome, we kept in touch with them for a number of years. We would always have dinner with them in Rome, once we spent a memorable day with them in the Castelli Romani. Maria loved abbacchio, and once served, would check to see if she had been lucky enough to have been served the kidneys along with the abbacchio. I learned something from her!
Jerry, embrace the kidneys! You are just the Pomodoro to do it!
The top portion of a baby lamb’s leg, when it includes the kidney with its blanket of fat, is known as la rognonata and considered one of the most delectable cuts of meat on earth.
I’m sure this is heresy, but, frankly, I don’t care which recipe it is, as long as Jerry writes about it. Oh, my God, I’m beginning to sound like a groupie.
That said, thanks for another enjoyable read.