Breaded Veal

1 # veal round steak, cut 1/2" thick
1 Tbs egg (either the white or the yolk)
1 Tbs water
2/3 c cracker crumbs or dry bread crumbs
2 Tbs lard
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbs butter
1/8 tsp paprika

Wipe the meat with a damp cloth, and cut into four pieces. Mix the egg, water, salt and paprika, and dip each piece of meat into the egg mixture. Roll in the crumbs and pat the crumbs into the meat. Place the lard in the frying pan, and when hot, add the meat. Brown well on one side, and then turn, allowing the other side to become the same even color. Lower the flame under the meat, and cook 30 mins, keeping the pan covered. When the meat has cooked 25 mins, add the butter to lend flavor to the lard.

Makes four portions.

Second February Menu

So after the success of the first Feb menu (on Feb 3), I made the next menu on Feb 6th from Chapter CX. The menu consists of:

Breaded Veal
Creamed Potatoes
Browned Sauce
Spinach with Hard Cooked Eggs
Bread & Butter Spiced Peaches
Fig Pudding
Foamy Sauce



The breaded veal was delicious. I was so happy that my butcher had veal and I didn't have to do a meat substitute again. So tasty.


The creamed potatoes were delicious as always. I have made these several times since that first menu in January, as they're so easy to make (and I'd cooked extra potatoes with the first menu so as to have the pre cooked potatoes needed for THIS meal).


The browned sauce was pretty straight forward and oh so tasty. As mentioned, I love gravy. Sadly, it's still in my fridge and that's a long time... I've not been as good at utilizing the full kitchen for menus and remembering to use up things this month.


And now we come to the trouble makers. Let's start with the Spinach with Hard Cooked Eggs. The book doesn't give a recipe for this. At all. And I looked. So to the internet I go! Turns out it's a pretty straight forward and common dish. Hard boil eggs, peel and slice in half lengthwise. Blanche spinach, mix with a cream sauce, settle the eggs into the spinach and top with buttered bread crumbs and bake. I made a little extra cream sauce for the potatoes and used it here. Easy peasy. But I wish the recipe had actually been given.


Spiced peaches are something I made years ago when I got 40 pounds of peaches for free. Mine are cooked a little more than Bettina's but that's fine by me.


And for our last bit of annoyance, the fig pudding. This is one of those recipes that was designed for the fireless. Well, Bettina's fireless had ceramic heated stones at the bottom. She also had a tin pudding mold. I used a mason jar and tried to heat up a iron weight. Suffice it to say, the pudding was not cooked. Or rather, the outer 1/2" of the entire thing was cooked. So then I popped it on the stove and tried to do the boil thing. It STILL was being recalcitrant at being cooked! But eventually it was heated into submission. But it was an annoying process to say the least.


The foamy sauce was underwhelming. Can you see it on the pudding in the picture below? Nope! But it added a lemony zing to the otherwise not impressive-tasting pudding.

Chicken Loaf

1/2 c cooked chicken
1/2 c ground, cooked veal
1/2 c soft bread crumbs
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp celery salt
1 tsp chopped parsley
1 egg
1/2 c milk

Mix the chicken, veal and bread crumbs. Add the salt, celery salt, parsley, egg and milk. Mix thoroughly. Bake in a well-buttered pan thirty minutes in a moderate oven.

Makes two portions.

Baked Veal Steak

1 slice of veal steak (three-fourths of a pound, one-half inch thick)
3 Tbs flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
2 Tbs bacon fat
2 Tbs water

Wipe the veal and cut off any rind. Mix the flour, salt, and paprika. Roll the steak thoroughly in this mixture.

Place the bacon fat in the frying pan and when hot add the meat and brown thoroughly on both sides.

Placethe drippings and the meat in a small baking pan. Add in the water, cover, and place in the oven. Cook one hour. More water may be added if necessary.

This is a good recipe for the fireless.

Makes three portions.

January Dinner no. 2

Coked the second meal today (I know, it was supposed to be Tuesday, but I didn't get around to making chicken for leftovers yet). Prep for the actual meal, I roasted chicken breasts for early dinner yesterday (and made chicken dumpling soup for midnight snack, yum!). I thawed the second package of ground veal. Cooked down cranberries for jam. And while making cookies this afternoon, I also baked all of the sad little potatoes we had in the house (they needed a lot of spots cut off, poor potatoes!). And then I was ready for this evening!

Menu:
Chicken Loaf
Creamed Potatoes
Baking Soda Biscuits
Cranberry Jelly
Caramel Custard

I was nervous about this meal. Many of the components needed to be in the oven damn near close to the same times. But, I came home from work, cooked the veal, added sugar and jarred the cranberries, and picked the chicken carcass. Then I made the loaf. While the oven was heating, I made the custard. Put both in the oven at the same time. Made the biscuits. Made the potatoes. And because all of the steps were back to back, I was able to use one bowl and one saucepan, just rewashing after every step. And then bing bang boom, dinner was all ready, all at once. Magic!

Both my husband and I feel this was a very successful meal. Add in a vegetable, and you have a very solid and well portioned meal for two! This will be happening again. I do find it amusing how everything is beige. :)

First Dinner!

Yesterday I cooked the first menu from the project. The official menu was:

Baked Veal Steak
Baked Tomato, Cheese and Rice
Bread and Butter
Tapioca and Date Pudding



I made the pudding yesterday afternoon, as it's to be served cold. Its a pretty easy recipe and went together quickly. It made three servings.



As my butcher does not sell veal, I bought two pork chops to make the meat dish, and used tomato sauce instead of chopped tomatoes in the rice. And how did it all turn out?



Delicious! It was a very tasty way to cook pork, and the rice tasted much as expected. The bread and butter tasted as expected. The only surprise was the pudding. Very lemony! Good, but uexpected for tapioca. Also the beaten egg whites did something unusual with the consistency. But very tasty!