I love cooking with wine, it’s an absolute cheat code. In this recipe for spiced wine-braised veal, we’ll be using wine and beef broth to cook until the meat is falling apart.
Seasoning
The “spiced” part of this recipe is clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Sounds like a pumpkin pie! You may need to experiment a bit to get the taste that suits you, especially if you’re sensitive to any of these spices. This is the quanto basta (quantity enough) element of Italian cooking — add until it is just right for you. The original ratio of these is 1 to 1, but feel free to adjust as needed. Also, if you’d like to go from “spiced” to “spicy”, adding some red pepper flakes could be really interesting.
Veal
Not everyone is into veal, and this recipe will be just as good with chicken or pork. We like to use veal rather than beef, as it takes much less time to braise with less chance of becoming tough. You could also use beef, but will just need to braise at an even lower temperature and cook for longer.
Recipe
Bocconcini di Vitello Speziati
Ingredients
- 1¾ lbs Veal
- 2 tbs of Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbs Butter
- 12 oz White wine
- 1 tbs Flour
- 1 Medium onion
- 1 Tender celery stalk
- 1 Small carrot
- Spices (1 tsp each - red pepper flakes, ground clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg, or to taste)
- 1/2 c Beef broth
- Salt
- Pepper
- Zest from 1/2 lemon
- 1-2 garlic cloves
- 1 Parsley bunch
Directions
- Step 1 PREPARATION
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Step 2
Cube the meat. Finely chop the carrot, celery, and onion. Heat the oil and butter in a heavy pan over high heat, add onion and cook until is transparent, then add the cubed meat. Brown on high heat, stirring almost continuously for a few minutes. - Step 3 Add a pinch of salt & pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, and clove. Sprinkle with a teaspoon of flour (no more), stirring continuously until it thickens.
- Step 4 When the veal and onions are browned, add salt and wine, stirring for a few minutes then add chopped celery and carrot. Reduce heat to medium to medium-low, cover the pan, and simmer for about an hour and a half. Check it occasionally and add 1/2 cup of hot beef broth (or water) when the liquid dries.
- Step 5 When the veal is ready, prepare a handful of finely chopped parsley, lemon zest, and minced garlic and add to the pan. Mix and allow to flavor the meat for a couple of minutes.
- Step 6 This dish can be prepared a day in advance, just save the last step for right after warming the braised veal back up. Add the parsley, lemon zest, and minced garlic just before serving.
source: Piattoforte.it
