Veal Blanquette

Step by Step Recipe

1. Cut the beef into pieces and remove the fat.
2. Put it in a pot and cover with cold water.
3. Bring to a boil and cook 5 minutes.
4. Drain the meat and discard the cooking water.
5. Rinse the pot.
6. Put the meat back in the pot and season a little.
7. Wash and peel the two carrots, the onion, and the garlic. Subsequently, cut the carrots into slices of half a centimeter thick more or less, the onion in half and puncture the four cloves in each piece and cut the three or four garlic cloves in half lengthwise and crush them a little with the palm of the hand.
8. Wash the leek and also cut into 2 or 3 pieces.
9. Place the vegetables, the peppercorns in the pot with the bay leaves, the thyme sprig, and the parsley.
10. Cover with cold water, bring to a boil, and cook covered over low heat for 2 hours or until the meat is tender, to taste.
11. Skim off the foam several times during cooking. Season with salt at the end of cooking.
    Peel the 200 grams of onions and place them in a small saucepan.
12. Add half the water, add 1 teaspoon of butter and sprinkle with the sugar.
13. Cover the onions with a circle of parchment paper with a hole made in the center. The paper should be in contact with the onions and remove it once the water has evaporated, add a tablespoon of water to stir, remove from heat, and reserve.
14. Wash the 200 grams of mushrooms a little under the cold water tap, especially to remove the earth. You don’t have to submerge them, just put them in the water stream.
15. Remove the dried part of the stem from the mushrooms and cut them into quarters.
16. Saute the mushrooms with a little butter in a hot pan until they change color. Reserve.
17. Then, pass the broth through a stainless steel strainer when the meat is cooked. Reserve the pieces of veal and carrots.
18. Put the broth back in the pot and bring to a boil again.
19. Meanwhile, melt the 30 grams of butter over medium heat in another saucepan or saucepan.
20. Once it has melted, sprinkle the 30 grams of flour and cook for 1 or 2 minutes so that it loses its raw flavor, but without turning brown.
21. Add 1 liter of the broth from the meat to the butter and flour mixture and cook, stirring until the sauce thickens. Just before serving, heat the sauce over medium-low heat.
22. In a bowl, mix the yolks with the 100 milliliters of cream.
23. Pour gradually, stirring at the same time, into the sauce without bringing it to a boil. Be careful not to coagulate the eggs.
24. Add the meat, carrots, onions, mushrooms, and a few drops of lemon.
25. Heat and rectify with salt if necessary.
26. Finally, serve the veal blanquette in deep plates, sprinkle finely chopped parsley if desired to garnish.

Complete Recipe

The beef has numerous benefits and properties, though it has to be eaten in moderation because of its fat content.
It must be said that 50% of that fat is monounsaturated fatty acids, which is the same as olive oil and that is why experts recommend its consumption once a week without any problem.
Beef, in addition to being very easily digested, is highly recommended because it is very rich in protein and its main nutritional characteristic is based on its high content of essential amino acids, that is, those amino acids that the body is not able to synthesize and only gets through food.
We can say, therefore, that the proteins in veal are of high biological value.
Meat is a food that must be present in a balanced and varied diet but always in moderation and knowing what type of meat to choose.
In addition, everything will depend on the piece of veal that we choose.
The fattiest parts of the veal (ribeye, ribs) compared to the leanest parts (sirloin, hip, blood sausage, etc.) that do not exceed 10% of fat content, we can even speak of extra lean parts with only 5 % of fat.

The beef provides especially vitamins group B, ie B1, B3, B6, B12.
It also has vitamin A in the form of retinol.
Beef can also boast of being rich in zinc, it helps in the proper functioning of the prostate and the proper development of the reproductive organs; prevents acne; it is a good liver protector, and protects the immune system.
For its part, iron is another of the minerals that stands out in beef. An iron that is also heme, which means that it is better absorbed. This makes the iron in beef a fundamental source for people with anemia or those who are susceptible to it. This is the case of women, in the stage of the first menstrual losses.

Elaboration

For the preparation of the veal blanquette:

• We will choose a piece of veal that is as lean as possible.
• We will cut the piece into pieces and remove all the fat it has.
• Next, we put the meat in a pot and cover it with cold water.
• Bring it to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes.
• When the time has passed we drain the meat.
• We discard the cooking water and clean the pot.
• At this point, we season the meat and put it back in the pot.

Meanwhile:

• We wash and peel the two carrots, the onion, and the garlic.
• We cut the carrots into slices of half a centimeter thick more or less and the onion in half.
• We prick the four cloves in the two halves of the onion.
• We also cut the three or four garlic cloves in half lengthwise and crush them a little with the palm of the hand. We wash the leek and divide it into 2 or 3 pieces.
• When we have prepared all the vegetables, we put it together with the peppercorns, the bay leaves, the thyme sprig, and the parsley in the pot, cover everything with cold water, when it comes to a boil it is cooked covered over low heat for 2 hours or until meat is tender.
• Skim off the foam several times during cooking. Season with salt when it finishes boiling.

• Peel the onions and put them in a small saucepan, cover them halfway with water, add a teaspoon of butter and sprinkle it with the sugar.
• Cover the onions with a circle of baking paper with a hole in the center. The paper should be in contact with the onions.
• When the water has evaporated, we remove the baking paper and add a tablespoon of water, stir and remove from the heat. We booked.
• Next, we wash the mushrooms a little to remove any dirt they have.
• We put them under the cold water tap. You don’t have to submerge them, just put them in the water stream.
• We cut the dry part of the stem of the mushrooms and cut them into four pieces.
• We saute them with a little butter in a pan until they change color, when they are we reserve them.
• When the meat is stewed, we remove it from the heat and strain the cooking broth. We reserve the veal and carrots.
• We put the stew broth back in the pot and return to the boil. In another casserole we melt 30 gr. butter over medium heat.
• Once the butter has melted, we put the 30 grams of flour and cook for one or two minutes so that it loses its raw flavor, but without it getting brown. Next, we add the liter of broth in the butter and flour mixture and cook, stirring until the sauce thickens and binds.
• In a bowl, mix the yolks with the cream. We pour this mixture gradually, stirring at the same time in the sauce without it coming to a boil. Be careful not to coagulate the eggs.
• Next, we add the meat, carrots, onions, mushrooms, and a few drops of lemon. Reheat and rectify with salt if necessary.
• It is best to serve the veal blanquette in deep plates and to decorate we can sprinkle finely chopped parsley if desired.