Dinner · 120 min · french

Blanquette de Veau

Veal shoulder does the heavy lifting here, with carrots rounding it out. A French dinner that takes 120 minutes, start to finish.

✓ USDA-verified nutrition data

Ingredients

• 2.5 lb Veal shoulder
• 3 Carrots
• 12 Pearl onions
• 8 oz Cremini mushrooms
• 4 cups Chicken stock
• 0.75 cup Heavy cream
• 1 Egg yolk
• 2 tbsp All-purpose flour
• 1 Lemon

Steps

1. Cut the veal into 2-inch chunks — uniform pieces cook evenly and look right in the bowl. Cover with cold water in a pot, bring to a boil, skim the foam, then drain and rinse. This blanching is the secret to a pale, clean-tasting sauce; skip it and the broth turns murky.
2. Return the veal to the pot with the stock, a sliced onion, a bay leaf, and salt. Simmer gently, never boiling, for about 75 minutes, until the meat yields to a fork. Add the carrots and pearl onions for the last 25 minutes.
3. Lift out the meat and vegetables with a slotted spoon and keep warm. Strain the broth, then whisk the flour into 2 tablespoons of soft butter to make a beurre manié and whisk it into the simmering broth until it thickens to a light gravy — pale and glossy, never brown.
4. Sauté the mushrooms separately in butter until golden and add them in; mushrooms boiled in the stew go gray and sullen, sautéed ones stay meaty.
5. Off the heat, whisk the cream with the yolk and a squeeze of lemon, then temper it with a ladle of hot broth before stirring it into the pot. This liaison enriches the sauce without curdling — but never let it boil again or the yolk will scramble.
6. Return the veal and vegetables, warm through gently, and serve over buttered rice with the sauce spooned lavishly. Taste for lemon at the end; the acid is what lifts the whole dish from rich to bright.

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