Saturday, June 30, 2012

Veal Marsala with Fettuccine




        Veal Marsala is a very simple dish with few, but high quality ingredients. In fact, it’s often prepared table-side. This variation produces a sauce for some fettuccine to accompany the veal. The addition of some onion, mushrooms, stock and a little tomato paste creates enough volume of sauce to do that job. The dish remains relatively quick to prepare, just have everything prepped and ready because it goes from raw ingredients to finished in just a few minutes!
        Now for the wine: This is sort of a mild tasting meal so I thought a Vouvray would be ideal. The 2009 Vouvray Sec of Christophe Thorigny is about as sec as a Vouvray gets but, of course, that means not very. Actually it is a beautifully balanced wine and has a lovely soft feel to it.
        The Marsala I’m using is a Fine and Dry, which means it is fairly young. You’ll want to add a little sugar to the sauce. If you use a sweeter Marsala, then skip the sugar. You can wait until you taste the sauce near the end to decide how to correct the sweetness and seasoning.

Ingredients
½     lb.   Veal cutlet, thinly sliced
most of the ingredients
        Dusting Flour
4      Tbs Butter
1      Tbs Olive Oil
¼     cup Onion, chopped fine
¼     lb.   Mushrooms, sliced
2      Tbs Tomato Paste
½     cup Marsala Wine
1      cup Chicken Stock, simmering
        Salt and freshly ground Pepper
1      tsp  Sugar (depends on taste)
¼     lb.   Fettuccine
        Fresh Basil leaves, torn into small pieces
        Freshly grated Pecorino Romano Cheese

Method
Pound the veal very, very thin.
pounding veal


          Prepare all other ingredients: thinly slice Onion and chop into fine dice, Slice Mushrooms ¼ inch thick, tear Basil leaves into small pieces and grate about ¼ cup Pecorino Romano cheese. Heat the stock. Prepare a plate with foil and an extra piece of foil for covering the Veal to keep it warm. Bring a pan of water to the boil and take careful note of the cooking time for the Fettuccine. You will want to add the pasta so that it is finished exactly when you are ready for it.
ingredients prepped
everything ready, water up











You will probably have two batches of Veal for ½ pound. Melt the Butter and a little Oil in a fry pan. Bring to high heat and immediately add the first batch of Veal. Brown one minute on each side, no more! Remove to foil lined plate and brown next batch. 
browning veal


When Veal is finished, cover tightly with foil and reserve. Add the Onion and Mushrooms to the pan, reduce heat and toss well (you may want to add a splash more oil). Add the Fettuccine to the boiling water now. Back to the sauce: sprinkle on a little Salt and freshly ground Pepper and let sauté for about 5 minutes.
Add Tomato Paste and stir in well. Let this simmer for a few minutes.

mushrooms after 5 minutes
tomato paste added











Now add Marsala and hot Stock, raise heat and let this simmer down for a bit. Taste and sweeten and/or correct seasoning, if necessary.

liquids added
          When you drain the pasta, add the Veal back to the sauce to heat.
veal warming in sauce
Plate some of the Fettuccine and a couple of cutlets. Cover both with the sauce. Sprinkle Basil and Cheese over the Pasta. 
Veal Marsala with Fettuccine

Enjoy!





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