Veal a la Francaise

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I am thinking of writing a book. And since this is a food blog, I am sure your first thought is that it is going to be a cook book, right?

Well, actually no. I am thinking of writing a book about the hardships of growing children. Now, I believe your next question will be, why now and why this particular subject.

You are all familiar with my son’s bullying situation and how I changed him schools in the middle of the school year. Well, guess what, he went to this new school for two weeks and he got the B type flu. Because of the flu, he showed a complication called infectious myositis. Apparently, the flu destroyed the cells of the muscle tissues. He woke up one morning with a lot of pain in his legs at the point where he could not walk. We took him immediately to the hospital and they put him serum and hospitalized him. We stayed at the hospital for 5 days waiting for his examinations to be normal again. Thank God this is something reversible and recoverable.

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After leaving hospital doctors advised us to keep him for a few more days at home, so as for his body to fully recover and restore the damaged muscle tissues. So, today was his first day at school after almost two weeks.

That is the reason why I think I am going to write the book. I have just one child and I feel I am raising three. And I have no idea what more lies ahead. Any ideas?

But let’s focus on the food right? I made this while my son was sick and he wanted something warm, nutritious and super delicious, to help him improve his appetite, which was badly damaged because of the flu. Basically, this is a combination of two French dishes the Braised Veal and the Veal Bourguignon plus some additions of mine.

That was such a delicious juicy dish with its very rich sauce, that I and my husband broke our diet and ate two medium sized portions instead of one! Definitely I am going to make this again! It is the perfect meal for cold winter days to make you feel warm and happy!

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Veal a la Francaise

Ingredients

1 kilo veal (you can use beef instead, only you will have to decrease the amount of time cooked)

1 big onion, cut in thick slices

4 small carrots, cut in big slices

A bunch of celery

A bunch of parsley

5 tbsp olive oil

½ cup cognac or brandy

1 cup Marsala wine (you can use any red wine you want, I didn’t have any other open)

2 cups veal stock

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

½ tsp Herbs de Provence

1 tsp thyme

1 garlic clove

400 gr. Mushrooms

2 tbsp double concentrated tomato paste

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/ 2 cup dried apricots

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Instructions

In a deep pot pour the olive oil and in medium to high heat sauté the veal pieces until they change their exterior color from red to grey. Remove from fire.

Add the onion, the garlic and the carrots.

Sauté for couple of minutes.

Add the veal pieces and pour the cognac and the Marsala wine.

Let boil for couple of minutes and then add the stock.

Throw the celery, the parsley, salt and pepper, Herbs de Provence and thyme.

Lower heat and let it cook slowly. Now the veal needs at least three hours in low fire. For the beef, it will take less time to cook, perhaps half the time of veal.

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When the veal is soft enough for your taste remove from fire.

Put the dried apricots in a bowl with hot water to make them soft.

Preheat oven to 200° C.

In a blender pour the sauce of the veal along with the cooked vegetables and herbs. Very carefully start the blender and mash everything.

Take a deep Pyrex and place the veal pieces.

In the blender bowl add to the sauce the tomato paste, the sugar, the Worcestershire sauce, the apricots and the mushrooms. Mix with a spoon and then pour this over the veal.

Put in the oven and gratinize it for about 15 to 20 minutes.

I served it over mashed potatoes and it was so delicious!

Pictures really don’t show even half of how good this was! Veal a la Francaise.jpg

I am sending this to Full Plate Thursday hosted by Miz Helen!