Vitello Contadina Recipes

Steps:

• Place the veal in a casserole large enough to accommodate it. Add the wine and enough water to cover the veal by 1/2 an inch. Remove veal and set aside. Add vegetables and bouquet garni to the water and bring the liquid to a boil. Return the meat to the simmering water, cover and cook gently for about 1 1/2 hours or until the veal is cooked through.
• Remove the veal from the heat and let it cool in its own liquid, remove it from the liquid and the veal is ready. (Boil the remaining liquid down by half and use as you would broth.) Remove strings and thinly slice.
• In a food processor puree until creamy the tuna fish, anchovies, capers, vegetable and olive oils. Add lemon zest and 3 tablespoons of the lemon juice (add more if you wish). Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and fold in the mayonnaise and season very well with salt and pepper.
• Spread bottom of a shallow nonmetal dish with a layer of tuna sauce. Arrange some veal slices, in a single layer, end to end, over the tuna sauce. Cover first layer of veal again with tuna sauce. Build up a second layer of veal and cover with sauce again. End with a generous layer of sauce, (making sure veal is entirely covered so that it does not dry out). Cover with plastic and refrigerate for 24 hours.
• Serve chilled with steamed haricot verts (French green beans) or asparagus along with wedges of ripe tomato, halved pitted black olives, snipped chives and chopped parsley.

Steps:

• 1. Make a deep incision down the center of the veal, being careful not to cut all the way through gently open it out flat as you would a book. Trim off and reserve any irregular pieces of meat along the edges, leaving a neat, compact shape.2. Place rosemary along the center of the meat. Top the meat with half of the pancetta, overlapping the slices. Sprinkle with parsley and top with remaining pancetta, bay leaves, nutmeg and pepper.3. Drain the porcini mushrooms, reserving and straining the liquid. Rinse the porcini in cool water, drain again, chop coarsely and place on the top of the meat.4. Top with any reserved meat trimmings. Close up meat compactly and tie with kitchen twine, going once around lengthwise and several times around crosswise. Pat dry.5. Melt the butter in a deep casserole over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until golden, about 6 minutes, then discard the garlic. Add the stuffed roast, season with salt, and cook until lightly golden on all sides, 15 to 20 minutes.6. Add wine and vermouth, basting the meat. Cover the casserole, lower heat to medium low and cook, turning and basting occasionally, for 15 minutes. Stir in the almonds and 1/2 cup of reserved mushroom-soaking liquid. Cook, turning and basting occasionally, until tender, about 15 to 20 minutes longer. Transfer the meat to carving board and let it stand for 10 minutes or longer.7. Boil the sauce until lightly reduced. Cut the roast into 1/2-inch slices if necessary, reheat the slices in the casserole. Spoon sauce over and serve.

Steps:

• In a pot just large enough to fit veal, put wine, celery, onion, carrot, leek, marjoram, thyme and garlic. Add 3 inches of water, and bring to a boil. Add veal, and bring back to a boil. Immediately turn off heat, cover pot and let veal cool in its liquid 2 to 3 hours. When completely cool, thinly slice veal. Slices should be about 1/16 to 1/8 inch thick.
• While veal cools, make sauce: In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 1/4 teaspoon salt until pale yellow and the consistency of cream. Beginning a drop at a time, add 1 1/4 cups oil, whisking continually. As mixture thickens, you can add oil more quickly. When it gets quite thick, whisk in 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Continue adding oil until all of it has been absorbed and mayonnaise is quite thick and shiny. Whisk in another tablespoon of lemon juice.
• Drain tuna, and put it in a food processor with anchovies, remaining cup olive oil, remaining lemon juice and capers. Process until you get a creamy, uniformly blended sauce. Scrape sauce into bowl with mayonnaise and fold to combine. Taste. It should be quite tangy and highly seasoned. Refrigerate until needed.
• To assemble dish: remove 3/4 cup sauce, and reserve to serve alongside veal. Smear bottom of a large serving platter with some of the remaining tuna sauce. Place a layer of veal slices on top, meeting edge to edge without overlapping. Cover with sauce, then make another layer of meat and sauce. Repeat until all the meat is used. Leave yourself enough sauce to blanket top layer.
• Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 24 hours. Bring to room temperature before serving. Garnish with some or all suggested ingredients. Serve with reserved sauce on the side.

Steps:

• Combine sausage, onion and garlic in a large skillet. Cook over medium-high heat 4 to 5 minutes or until sausage is no longer pink inside, stirring to break up sausage.
• Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, mushrooms, oregano, basil, salt, sugar.
• Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cook, uncovered, 30 minutes. Serve over hot cooked pasta.