Veal Roast With Fresh Figs Recipes

Steps:

• Vaguely trim breast - just the fat globs on the rib cage and any especially skanky skin, if it even exists. If the blue U.S.D.A. ink stamp on the flesh offends you, remove it.
• Place breast in a deep roasting pan large enough to accommodate it, and season meat thoroughly and assertively with salt, all over, turning the breast ribs-side up as well, seasoning with salt all over. Do the same thing, less assertively by half, with ground black pepper. Set breast back in pan ribs-side down, and season the flesh side extremely conservatively with both ground juniper and ground allspice. A light hand here, please. Strip a few pinches of fresh thyme leaves from their stems, and scatter over the veal. Drizzle generously with the oil, allowing some to pool in roasting pan.
• Let the veal sit at room temperature to shake the chill from the refrigerator while you prepare the potatoes.
• Peel and cut into wedges 4 Yukon Gold potatoes, and scatter around in pan. Peel and halve the onion, and slice into 1/3-inch-thick half-moons. Scatter onion around in pan on top of potatoes. Keep potato and onion under the meat, not on top of it, so that breast can fully brown and get a crisp skin.
• Fill roasting pan 2 inches deep with water and white wine, in equal parts. Set in 275-degree oven, and let roast for up to 12 hours, depending on weight. Remove when it is deeply golden brown and soft and tender. You don't want it falling off the bone, but you should be able to see how loose and relaxed it has become in the layers. You may need to tent the pan with foil for the first or the last 45 minutes of roasting to give it a little braise time for the deepest interior, recalcitrant parts. Conversely, you may want to turn up the oven and give it a 30-minute finish in a hot oven to get better color.
• Pick out vertebrae. Slice off ribs. Then portion as you wish, using a sharp knife big enough for the job. Include the potatoes and onions and the liquid from the pan when you serve.

Steps:

• Cook onion, celery, and garlic in butter in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until pale golden, about 10 minutes. Add demi-glace and boil, stirring occasionally, until most of liquid is evaporated, about 3 minutes. Stir in tarragon, vinegar, walnuts, dried figs, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper, then spread stuffing on a plate to cool.
• Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then brown figs, cut sides down, without stirring, about 3 minutes. Transfer figs to a bowl with a slotted spatula. Add shallot and celery to skillet and sauté, stirring, until golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Add wine and 8 to 10 browned fig halves (reserve remainder) and boil, stirring and mashing figs, until wine is reduced to a syrup, about 5 minutes. Stir in demi-glace and bring to a boil. Stir arrowroot into vinegar until dissolved, then add to skillet, whisking to incorporate. Boil sauce 2 minutes, then pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a 2-quart heavy saucepan, pressing on and then discarding solids. Stir in tarragon, salt, and pepper.
• Discard any disposable metal skewers from cavity of each quail, then rinse quail inside and out and pat dry. Stuff 1 quail with a scant 1/4 cup stuffing, pressing and shaping it to fill out breast. Tie legs together with string and push legs up against body. Thread cavity closed with a wooden pick. Repeat with remaining quail.
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
• Sprinkle quail all over with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon each butter and oil in cleaned 10-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then brown 6 quail on all sides, about 10 minutes total. Transfer with tongs to a large shallow baking pan. Wipe skillet clean and brown remaining 6 quail in same manner in remaining tablespoon each of butter and oil.
• Remove strings and picks from all quail, then roast quail, breast sides up, until just cooked through (check inner thigh - meat will still be slightly pink), 10 to 15 minutes. Add reserved browned figs to pan for last 2 to 3 minutes of roasting.
• While quail roast, return sauce to a simmer, then add remaining 2 tablespoons butter, whisking until incorporated.
• Transfer quail and figs to a serving dish and pour any juices from baking pan into sauce. Serve quail with sauce.
• Do Ahead: Stuffing can be made 1 day ahead and cooled completely, uncovered, then chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before proceeding. Figs and sauce (without remaining 2 tablespoons butter) can be prepared 1 day ahead and cooled, uncovered, then chilled separately, covered. Bring sauce to a simmer before adding butter. Quail can be browned 1 hour before roasting. Keep quail, uncovered, at room temperature.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Put the figs, cut side up, in a baking dish. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat, and whisk in the honey, cinnamon and salt. Drizzle the hot honey butter over the figs and roast in oven until very soft, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Divide the fresh ricotta or fat free yogurt among 4 serving dishes and top with the warm figs and sauce. Enjoy!
• Cook's Note: These hot figs are really great over mixed greens or even on a toasted baguette as a crostini!

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• 2. Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed, oven proof baking dish over medium heat and when the oil is hot but not smoking, brown the veal on all sides. Remove the veal from the pan and add the figs. Cook until they are golden but not too soft, about 5 minutes. Remove the figs and reserve. Add the onions to the pan. Cook, covered, until the onions are tender and golden, stirring occasionally so they don't stick, about 10 minutes. Return the veal roast to the pan with the onions. Season it with salt and pepper, then pour the wine over all. Tuck the bay leaves around the veal, pushing them under the wine, cover, and roast in the oven until the veal is nearly cooked through, about 1 hour. Turning it once during cooking.
• 3. Remove the veal from the oven. Add the figs to the veal, pushing them gently down under the cooking juices. Cover and return to the oven and bake until the veal is cooked through and figs are tender and melting, an additional 15 minutes.
• 4. Remove the veal from the oven and transfer the veal to a warmed platter. Place the pan with the cooking juices over medium heat and bring to a boil. Boil gently just until the sauce has thickened enough to lightly coat the back of a spoon, 4 to 5 minutes, making sure that the cooking juices don't evaporate too much and that the figs and onions don't stick to the bottom of the pan.
• 5. To serve, remove the strings from the veal roast and slice it. Spoon the figs and onions and the cooking juices over it, garnish the platter with parsley and serve immediately.

Steps:

• In 6-quart Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook garlic and shallots in oil 3 to 4 minutes or until browned. Remove from pan with slotted spoon, reserving oil in pan.
• In small bowl, mix rosemary, salt, pepper and sugar. Rub mixture on all sides of roast. Cook roast in reserved oil until browned on all sides. Add broth and 1 cup of the water. Scatter garlic and shallots around roast. Cover tightly; cook over medium-low heat 1 hour. Turn roast over; cook 1 hour. Turn roast again; cook covered 1 hour longer or until meat is tender, adding squash and figs and turning roast during last 30 minutes.
• Remove roast, fruit and vegetables to platter. Skim fat from broth, if desired. Heat broth to boiling; boil 5 minutes. Stir in port; boil 5 minutes. Shake remaining 1/2 cup water and the flour in tightly covered container; gradually stir into sauce. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Serve gravy with pot roast.