Good morning carnivores! Welcome back to Sunday Gravy.

In reaching for a theme for today’s menu I first considered an Olympic based theme similar to what I did for the Rio Olympics a couple of years ago. Remember this one?

Holy fucking hell that was delicious. Psst: Killer chimichurri sauce in there!

Then I remembered, oh yeah, I’ve already done a shit ton of Korean recipes.

We had Korean style wings.

There was grilled kalbi style ribs and egg rolls.

There was also another recipe for grilled kalbi ribs because I just love the goddamn things.

In addition to those we had a mind blowing spicy/sticky Korean style pork chop that was marinated in gochujang, brown sugar, garlic, soy, vinegar and such that forever altered my life. Fuck those things were incredible.

After much pondering I just decided “Know what? Fuck having a theme.” Then I decided to make something because it just sounded delicious and I could feature a new protein that we haven’t featured before.

VEAL!

What?

Oh fuck, don’t wimp out on me now!

Yes, some folks have issues with the way that veal cows are raised but you know what I say? Fuck the veal cows for being so delicious. It’s their own goddamn fault!

Next thing you’ll tell me that you don’t like lamb.

Don’t even start that shit with me!

I mean just look at this glorious bit of flesh.

God.

Damn!

Alright, if you’re that goddamn delicate scroll down for a really delicious vinaigrette recipe. Yes I really did make a salad, and the vinaigrette is from scratch. That ought to satisfy those PETA cocks.

Late in last season’s series I had a recipe for Chicken Marsala with homemade pasta. The recipe called for a pan sauce with Marsala wine and butter – and that’s a goddamn keeper sauce as well – and I noticed I had some leftover Marsala in my cupboard.

Utilizing my no ingredients wasted methodology I decided to find a use for the leftover wine by making today’s dish  – Veal Saltimbocca.

The inspiration for this came directly from the comment section on the above chicken Marsala post. Jerbear50 made mention of a dish similar to the chicken Marsala called samltimbocca which IS quite similar in preparation to chicken Marsala. So stealing Jerbear50’s idea I ran with this motherfucker.

Veal Saltimbocca is a Roman dish that features a thinly pounded veal cutlet topped with sage and a slice of proscuitto. The name actually means “Jumps in the mouth.” I’m sure it makes more sense pre-translation. Some variations called for melting a layer of cheese over the dish and I decided to try it a couple of ways.

Honestly the most challenging aspect of this meal is procuring the goddamn veal.

As I alluded to earlier, veal just isn’t as popular as it once was. Yes, I do acknowledge that it’s a really fucked up way to raise an animal for our consumption and many people are turned off by it. Several decades ago you could walk into any major chain grocery store and they would have veal lined up next to the beef, and lamb and all of the other proteins. Fuck man, you can barely find a good lamb chop in a grocery store anymore. I checked my regular grocery store, good old Ralph’s and was not surprised to find they carried no veal. There was a solution to this. A very fucking expensive solution to this.

Yeah.

Now first and foremost I have no issues with Whole Foods apart from the price thing. Yes, yes we’ve all heard it called “Whole Paycheck” and such but I will admit, the pricing IS a little less now that it has been purchased by Amazon. My local Whole Foods is one of those fucking massive block long “super stores” with the hot foods and the bar – yes a bar inside of a grocery store – and a massive selection of produce, meats, aisle after aisle of craft beers, a cheese shop, a fucking olive bar, salad bar, a taqueria, honestly it’s a really fucking amazing store.

Knowing that this was my best chance for fresh veal procurement I ventured into the madness. First of all going to this place on a Saturday afternoon is fucking insanity but I will say that it is PACKED with very fit individuals of the fine female form and being located right next door to Manhattan Beach Holy God it is eye-candy central.

Stop it, I’m only here for the veal. I make my way to the massive meat counter – stop giggling you heathens, and I locate the veal section. They had many packages of ground veal – decent but not for this menu application, they also had veal shanks – ditto to the previous statement as well as veal cubed for stews. The fuck is that? They had ONE (1) package of veal cut for cutlets and I needed two.

I casually step up to the butcher counter after waiting the requisite 15 minutes and asked one of the butchers if they had any more veal in the back. He goes back, checks and tells me they don’t.

Well fuck.

So I drop back, mentally process the situation and tell him “Fuck it, just give me a couple of boneless skinless chicken breasts.” Knowing I can slice them down the center, pound them flat and we would have 4 pieces of chicken to work with. Dude goes to the end of the butcher counter, grabs a couple of pieces of the chicken, weighs them, wraps them in butcher paper, slaps on the price sticker and says. “Here you go.”

I pay zero attention to the package since I already had the package of veal, a couple of craft beer bombers and a tub of roasted red pepper hummus – delicious – in my hand basket.

I check out, 44 bucks? Goddamn they are still the same.

Then I got home and opened the grocery bag.

Which brings me to this:

First thing I noticed was 18.79 for TWO fucking chicken breasts? Then upon closer inspection I noticed why. You may have to blow that photo up but I gave you an object we are all familiar with for comparison. The sticker says that little package holds 4.71 pounds of chicken!

Motherfucker fat-thumbed the FUCK out of me. That is a 12 oz beer next to the package and my best guess is this shit weighed about 2/3 of a pound.

Again, I’m not indicting Whole Foods for this as they were unbelievably apologetic when I returned the package. I’m sure it was a one time mistake. I thought I would share this anyway as a reminder to check the price sticker whenever you buy meat from the butcher counter.

Sorry but I needed to share.

Fuck that let’s get to this one.

White Vinaigrette for the salad that is not in any of the photos.

My salad of choice is baby spinach leaves, some finely julliened carrots, almond slivers and dried cherries. Throw some bleu cheese on there for maximum effect.

Truth bomb: I’ve never been a salad guy. Never. However a former girlfriend introduced me to this particular salad and I was really impressed and now I have a salad that I actually really like. Here’s the dressing for it.

You will see some salt, pepper, dijon mustard, white wine vinegar and olive oil. That’s your base for the dressing.

The ratio is 3 parts olive oil to one part vinegar. I poured about 3 tablespoons of vinegar, added a pinch of salt, a couple of grinds of pepper, about a teaspoon of dijon and mixed together. Next slowly add in the three parts of oil and stir as you add to create a nice emulsion or you could just do this.

Put it in a tupperware container with a lid, add in the ingredients and shake the bejesus out of it. Boom.

Feel like a squeeze of lemon? Knock yourself out. Maybe some minced capers? Hell yes! How about some finely minced garlic? Yeah boy!

You get the idea.

I was just really stoked that I killed this recipe on the first try. This would be great served over grilled fish, maybe some grilled asparagus that type of thing.

Veal Saltimbocca!

Some thinly sliced veal cutlets – or boneless, skinless chicken breast.

1 slice of very thinly sliced proscuitto for each cutlet.

Some fontina or mozzarella cheese.

1 fresh sage leaf per cutlet. You can use dried sage. I did after being unable to find fresh sage leaves.

Just a little salt.

Some grinds of black pepper.

1/2 cup of flour.

2 tablespoons of olive oil.

2 tablespoons of butter.

For the pan sauce:

3/4 cup of marsala wine. Use sweet or dry. I had dry still on hand.

5-6 tablespoons of unsalted butter.

That’s it.

First we are going to flatten the veal and the chicken. Again here’s the veal which came in the perfect thickness.

Then the chicken.

Place the chicken between two sheets of plastic wrap and get ready to pound your chicken.

Next is a very cool trick. Place the slice of the proscuitto over the flattened meats, one slice per and kind of massage the ham right into the veal or chicken. Let them intermingle. Sprinkle some of the sage on the non-hammed side, give a very light sprinkle of salt and some ground pepper. Next dredge the ham-covered veal or chicken in the flour and get ready to cook these up. Using a skillet heat up the olive oil and the first 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat.

The veal will cook for 3 minutes per side. Start with the proscuitto covered side first.

The chicken cooks for about 3 1/2 minutes per side.

Here’s the veal in the pan.

Once the cutlets have been cooked place them on a plate with some foil to cover. DON’T try to keep the veal warm in the oven it will overcook and become chewy and overcooked veal is bullshit.

I made 3 cutlets of veal and 4 of the chicken. Here’s the 2nd shot of the pan where the two types of protein are side by side and coexisting wonderfully!

The final batch was chicken only. Take a look at the proscuitto cooked into the top of the chicken. Pretty sweet!

When the meat has been cooked it’s time to work on that pan sauce.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the Marsala. Give a few stirs to scrape up the browned bits from the meat. Return the pan to the heat. Next add in the butter one tablespoon at a time.

It should only take about 8-10 minutes to reduce the sauce by about half.

Finally, cook some pasta. I had some penne on hand and after cooking to al dente I tossed it lightly in a butter and sage sauce. Plate the pasta, if you wanted to add a couple of grates of real parmigiano reggiano or pecorino Romano (this is a Roman dish remember) this would be the time to do so. Place one of those lovely cooked cutlets on top of the pasta, then get a spoon of the pan sauce and drizzle over. This is a sauce dammit not a gravy so don’t drown the meat in it. Please note I didn’t use any fontina cheese on the veal. I wanted it in it’s classic form

Then you plate it up with a little garnish of fresh parsley and it’s party time!

This would pair really well with a nice pinot noir.

For the chicken I heated the oven to 350, layered a thin slice of fontina cheese over the cooked chicken and heated just until the cheese melted, then spooned over the pan sauce and served.

The chicken would pair with a pinot griggio.

The reason you need very little salt for the meal is due to the proscuitto. It delivers a salty, savory element and if cooked properly adds a crispy texture to the veal. The sage has a touch of earthiness that works perfectly. Add in the tang and the silkiness of the Marsala butter sauce and you can understand why this dish has been around for centuries.

Just perfect.

This is a quick and delicious meal that will absolutely impress anyone you serve it to. Add in the wine pairing and prepare for sexy time! Provided of course that is your desired result. You can even do this as a quick weeknight menu.

Quick, minimal ingredients and goddamn delicious.

That’s what I’m talking about.

Thanks for reading folks.

See you next time.

Peace!