Um, it’s really veal scallopine if the name of the dish threw you for a second. It did for me!
And what am I working on? A tribute to and a celebration for the fabulous Julia Child. PBS has a wonderful group going called “cook for Julia” on social media. Julia would be 100 years old on August 15.
Soooo – this is an amazing dish – so crazy insanely rich. I gave a small plate to my picky *almost 13* year old son and he actually did try a bit (I was going to bet $1000 online that he wouldn’t touch it) and said it “was okay and the aftertaste was better than the first taste.”
okay. I had to then do a 360 from French cuisine a la Julia Child to making Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. A shock to the culinary gods I’m sure. Even sent me over the edge for a moment.
I chose this dish because it looked easy. I’m being honest here! It’s not one of Julia’s “feeds 10-12 people” so I thought it was a good bet. It’s just me and my son this week while David is working up in NY and all the neighbors are up north for the summer. Oh, and did I mention that my son is a picky eater?
But the surprising thing was that, no, it wasn’t hard, but it took several steps to bring it from “just” sauteed veal scallopine to an incredible dish. I totally get what Chef Michael Symon said on The Chew today about the fact that few households make sauces that really make a dish an appealing dinner entree. He’s right. If you saute something, all you need to do to take that dish to the next level is to quickly deglaze your pan with the addition of wine, stock, broth, or water, scrape up the yummy browned bits, and then always swirl in a pat or two of butter at the end. Sublime. Rich. Delicious.
And when adding extra dry vermouth to your pan, move your face back. Trust me. I inhaled, yikes.
I made adjustments to this recipe – I do not have dried tarragon and if I did, it would be from another decade. And not the most recent one.
I did not add heavy cream. Just couldn’t. But I did saute some nice sliced mushrooms in a couple of pats of butter to add to the dish. Couldn’t resist. Plus they were already in my fridge waiting for a Julia Child recipe to strike.
My scallopine were already pounded and ready to go at the instructed ¼-inch thickness. But they were sort of on the long side which initially made it a little tough getting it into a 10-inch saute pan. I had three pieces (just around a third of a pound). One piece would be fine for me.
I accompanied the veal with a green salad that was dressed with just a bit of fruity extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice, which cut through the richness of the veal dish. Total deliciousness.
escalopes de veau sautees a l’estragon
(Sauteed Veal Scallops with Tarragon from Julia Child’s French Chef Cookbook, Show 16)
ingredients:
Veal Scallops:
- 4 or more veal scallops
- 1 ½ tablespoons butter
- ½ tablespoon cooking oil
Sauce and Serving:
- 1 tablespoon minced shallots
- ¼ cup dry vermouth
- 1 tablespoon fresh tarragon leaves, minced
- 1 cup brown stock or canned beef bouillon
- (optional) 1 cup sliced mushrooms previously sauteed in butter
- ½ tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water
- kosher salt and coarse ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon soft butter
- parsley sprigs
directions:
- Dry scallops/scallopine on paper towels. Season with salt and pepper. Heat butter and oil in a nonstick skillet over high heat. When butter foam has almost subsided but is not browning, add veal. I cooked for about 4 ½ minutes total – so my scallopine were much thinner than her veal scallops. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Make your sauce: Pour off all but a tablespoon of fat in your pan. Add the shallots and stir over moderate heat for about 30 seconds. Add the vermouth, tarragon, and bouillon, and scrape up the browned bits. Boil rapidly and reduce liquid to 2/3 cup (just eyeball it). Remove from the heat, add the cornstarch mixture and the mushrooms if using. Simmer while stirring for two minutes. Add the veal scallops/scallopine back to the pan and baste with the sauce and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Place scallops/scallopine on a serving plate and to the pan add a tablespoon of butter and whisk to combine. Pour the sauce over the veal scallops/scallopine and serve, garnished with parsley sprigs.
Serves 4
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Laurie - I love veal! It’s one of the few meats that I WILL spend the extra dollars on so i can have it throughout the year. My mom and grandmother always had many veal recipes on the table. And mushrooms.. one of the biggest hits on the Italian table!
christina @ smallkitchenchronicles - Just lovely! I can almost taste it! And, dare I say, I’m kind of impressed that your 13 year old is eating veal scallopine! Go mom!
Kim - Liv Life - I love Julia! But I have to admit that many of her recipes are not really things I make at home. Veal is one of those things. Your post though makes it sounds so tempting and your photo is just beautiful!