Veal Scallopini (well, almost) with Tortellini

Always being the adventurous weeknight cook, wanting something simple, quick, but not boring and bland, my thoughts turned Italian tonight. I had all of the ingredients on hand to make a speedy Veal Saltimbocca. The sage in the garden is just beautiful right now, and begging to be picked to encourage tender new leaves to grow. I love the literal meaning of saltimbocca – “jumps in the mouth”. The marriage of sage and prosciutto can definitely jump in my mouth anytime it wants.

However, teenage daughter wanted to know it this “salt and whatever” was going to incorporate pasta, something that I’ve not cooked in a while, and her cravings were getting the better of her. Well there goes my saltimbocca out the window, I thought. So, just to appease the menu requester, I opted for Veal Scallopini with veal tortellini, and just to appease the chef’s yearnings, tossed in some sage and prosciutto into the sauce. Everyone was happy, and nobody but the chef knew of the deviation to the original recipe. I quietly had my own little “jump in the mouth” party, unbeknownst to anyone else!

Veal Scallopini with Tortellini

Serves 4-5

Ingredients

750g thinly sliced veal steaks
to taste: salt and pepper
¾ cup flour
5 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 cloves fresh crushed garlic
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
¾ cup dry white wine 190ml
¾ cup mushrooms sliced (optional)
1 medium diced onion (optional)
8 slices prosciutto (very optional)
12 fresh sage leaves (very optional)
1 lb tortellini noodles 500g

Directions

Pound steaks with a mallet until really thin.
Add salt and pepper and dredge in flour.
Melt 5 tablespoons (105ml) butter in heavy skillet; add crushed garlic and sauté Veal Slices, lightly browning over a medium heat; turn but once.
Remove veal to a shallow baking pan.
Add remaining 2 tablespoons (30ml) of butter to skillet and sauté onions and mushrooms, prosciutto and sage leaves (optional ingredients) for 2½ minutes.
Add ¾ cup white wine and bring to a boil.
Simmer 2-3 minutes to blend all flavours.
Pour wine sauce over veal; cover pan and bake 35 minutes at 350ºF. (176ºC)
Cook tortellini noodles until tender in salted boiling water.
Drain and rinse.
Place tortellini noodles on serving platter.
Cover noodles with veal slices, and pour the remaining wine sauce over entire dish.

Kalyn's weekend herb blogging lands in the lap of Cate from Sweetnicks and my secret herb ingredient is sage. Shhhh, don't tell anyone.

Osso Bucco in 30 minutes

My post yesterday reminded me of how neglectful I've been to my trusty pressure cooker, and in need of a really quick and tasty meal for dinner last night, osso bucco seemed to fit the bill. Apart from chopping up the onion, carrot, garlic and celery, and browning the beef shin, pressure cooking time is less than 20 minutes.

I must admit she's a noisy old thing, hissing and jiggling away, but the flavours are just so much better than the conventional oven cooked method. I added a large tin of tomatoes, a good cup of white wine, (I had a Chardonay on hand) salt and pepper, then just put the lid on. The creamy polenta, which I mixed while the osso bucco was doing it's thing (I'm not fond of the quick cooking polenta, so did it the traditional way and used it as my aerobic workout for the day), oozed up the rich sauce from the dish like a sponge. Toss a bit of freshly torn basil over the top...viola. One pot to clean, simple meal. Ah, if they were only all like that.