Blanquette de Veau (French veal stew with white sauce)
>> Sunday, May 28, 2017
We first had this classic French
veal stew at Froggy’s
Café – you know, that French place we rhapsodize about. We consulted with
Julia Child on the recipe and experimented a little on our own to come up with
the recipe here.
While this is technically a basic stew, it's upscale enough for a fancy dinner party. The lovely creamy sauce and tender, buttery veal are a treat for special friends.
We’ve noticed that some classic
French recipes can be rather one-note. For example, the original recipe called
for cooking the veal with a carrot, celery stalk and onion, but then discarding
everything. The result is the stew contains just meat, mushrooms, and the very
flavorful gravy. We switched it up a bit so that we keep all the vegetables in
the stew. You might want to play around with this too – but perhaps experiment
on something cheaper than veal!
Ingredients
For the Bouquet Garni (Herb bundle)
3” cheesecloth square
Kitchen Twine
1 tbsp parsley leaves
2 cloves
1 bay leaf
1 tsp fresh thyme
6 black peppercorns
For the Stew
2 lbs. boneless veal shoulder, cut
into 1″ chunks
2 stalks of celery cut into 1″
pieces
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup pearl onions
1.5 cups baby carrots cut in half
10 oz. of mixed mushrooms, such as
shiitake, white, crimini, and oyster, sliced
¼ cup sherry
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 1⁄2 tbsp.
flour
½ cup heavy cream
Salt and white pepper to taste
Cooked white rice, for serving
Parsley leaves, to garnish
Instructions
Wrap the herbs in the cheese cloth
and tie with the twine. In a large pot, place the veal, onions, carrot, celery,
broth and enough water to partially cover the food. Bring to a boil, cover and
reduce heat, and simmer one hour. Skim off the scum as it forms. Be careful not
to overcook the veal as it will turn to mush!
Add the mushrooms and sherry and
cook until the vegetables are tender. Remove the meat and vegetables to a
platter and keep warm; return the broth to the pot.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Whisk in
the flour and stir in one cup of the veal broth, stirring until smooth. Slowly
stir the white sauce into the large pot, add salt and pepper to taste, and
simmer gently until it is thickened. Stir in the cream. Return the meat and
vegetables to the pot and heat through. Sprinkle with parsley after plating.
Serve over white rice, noodles, or
alone with crusty bread.
Serves 4.
