Will's Eats: Veal Stew with Onions and Mushrooms : Blanquette de Veau à l'Ancienne : Lesson 9 : LCB at Home

This was very good. Very.

I've done this one before; in cooking school and out - - it's always a big hit. Flavourful. Not blindingly expensive. Can be made ahead. Freezes well. Reheats well. Great for transporting to a dinner someplace. It's pretty tasty cold too.

Not the most colorful of of dishes but that's because of the "blanquette" part of the name; as with so many traditional french dishes this thing is supposed to be a variety of shades of white (trending to brown).

It was served with white sushi rice to soak up the sauce; that's essential.

I wrote about this before in "Veal Stew" and "Blanquette de Veau - 2" although I never gave a recipe or how-to. Therefore…

Blanquette de Veau à l'Ancienne : Veal Stew with Onions and Mushrooms

Serves: 8

Ingredients

2 liters [2 quarts] water, cold
2 carrots
2 onions
2 cloves
bouquet garnis (tossed in loose, not in a "bouquet"), be generous
25 peppercorns
2,25 kg [5#] boneless veal shoulder (considerably less once cleaned)
1/4 C butter, plus a bit
1/4 C flour
250 gr [8 oz] pearl onions, white
450 gr [1#] button mushrooms (really small ones if you can get 'em)
water
sugar
butter
1 egg yolk
1 T lemon juice
1/2 C crème fraiche

Procedure

Make what amounts to a vegetable broth with the water and... vegetables (and cloves and peppercorns)
- Get it boiling then boil gently for 15 minutes - meanwhile
Clean the big chunk o' veal of all tendons, connecting tissue, separating tissue, most of the silverskin, all membranes in general and the inedible bits. Cut into 3cm cubes [1 1/2"].
Blanch the meat (meat into a pot, cover with water, bring to a bit of a simmer, turn it off)
- Toss out the muck that comes to float on top of the water
- Strain the meat; saving the liquid for possible use later
Add the meat to the vegetable broth, simmer for 30 minutes
Remove the meat (use, for example, a slotted spoon)
Saving the cooking liquid, strain the vegetables (toss the veggies - they're done)
Melt the butter in a large pan, add the flour (to make a roux) - whisking
- Melt, bubble and dry this until it threatens to brown (2 or 3 minutes)
Add the meat & vegetable broth that you just saved, slowly, whisking, into the roux; it will magically thicken up sort of
Add the veal to the pot and cook, simmering, for another hour (until the veal is tender when poked with a sharp paring knife)
- Add, if needed, liquid to just barely cover the veal pieces (use the liquid from blanching the meat - that you saved from way way earlier)
- Season with some salt and (white) pepper
Now for the vegetable garnish... Cut the mushrooms, if necessary, to be the size of the onions
Each veggy into its own pan
3/4 cover with water (they ought not float)
Add a tablespoon each of water and butter
Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 5 minutes
Remove cover and boil vigorously until practically dry
Then stir/toss while the pan goes dry and the vegetables glaze (the mushrooms will take a fair while)
Everything can go on hold at this point; the vegetables and the meat
To finish: Glazed vegetables into the meat-pot; simmer 5 minutes
Check the seasoning
Remove the meat and glazed vegetables (for serving)
Reduce the cooked liquid to a saucy consistency
Mix the egg yolk, lemon and crème fraiche
Temper the mix with some of the liquid (add some of the hot sauce to the egg/cream mix)
Pour the tempered mix back into the sauce - whisking
Adjust seasoning (add salt, pepper)

Notes

The short version will seem less complicated
1. Clean, cube and blanch the veal
2. Make a vegetable broth - 15 minutes
3. Add the veal - 30 minutes; drain, reserve the meat and liquid
4. Make a roux, add the cooking liquid, add the veal, simmer - 1 hour (until tender)
5. Glaze some mushrooms and some pearl onions
6. Add glazed veggies to the mix - 5 minutes
7. Remove meat and vegetables from cooking liquid (to a serving plate)
8. Reduce liquid
9. Enrich with (tempered) egg yolk, lemon juice and crème fraiche