Veal Stew (French Blanquette de Veau à l'Ancienne)

You’ll have a hard time finding a more quintessential French dish than this veal ragout. C'est très, très bon. What is unusual about Blanquette de Veau is that you don’t brown anything - not the meat or the mushrooms or the onions - it should be pale and luxurious - sort of a satin and velvet gown instead of flannel pajamas. When made well this dish has every quality of the voluptuous meal it has every right to be. It is elegant and, yes, voluptuous - full of delicate flavours and a velvet-textured sauce with down pillows of meat. That's how my Paris tastes.

Veal:
2½ lbs d’Artagnan veal tenderloin, trimmed and cut into cubes or veal stew meat or veal cheeks
1 pt pearl onions, peeled
2 Tbsp. butter
6 cup veal or chicken stock

Bouquet Garni:
1 thyme sprig
1 bay leaf
parsley stems
6 peppercorns
2 cloves garlic, sliced
3 cloves

Vegetables:
1 celery stalk cut into sticks
1 large carrots, peeled and cut into thick sticks
1 small leek, sliced in half in 4” pieces
1 tsp. coarse salt
4 Tbsp. butter
5 Tbsp. all-purposed flour, unbleached
2 Tbsp. vermouth
2 Tbsp. Cognac
1 cup veal demi-glace from D’Artagnan

Mushroom Sauce:
3 egg yolks
½ cup heavy cream
2 cup sliced mushrooms (pure white mushrooms are classic)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice, freshly squeezed
sea salt
black pepper, freshly ground
fresh parsley, minced
yellow celery tops, chopped

Bouquet Garni:
Wrap the all the ingredients in a tied cheesecloth.

Take the veal cuttings, vegetables, bouquet garni and stock and put in a large pot (a wide-mouthed enamel cast iron pan is perfect). Heat it and simmer on medium-low for 1½ hours, skimming and checking as you go.

While you are doing this, take ½ cup of the stock from the pan and 2 Tbsp. butter and simmer the onions covered for 10 minutes. When they are nearly done remove the cover and reduce the liquid till it is syrupy. Remove and reserve the onions and the glaze.

After 1½ hours, strain the stock, pressing on the solids and then discard the vegetables and meat bits. Add the demi-glace to the stock. You should have around 4 cups. You can do all of this the day before so that the dish comes together quickly before the meal.

Rinse the veal cubes again and add to the stock. Cook for about 15 minutes over very low heat, barely a simmer. Check it - you want it medium rare (you will need to heat it again when you add the egg and cream, that's when you will finish cooking the veal).

When it’s done, remove the meat and strain the broth over a fine mesh. Reserve 3¼ cup of the stock for the velouté. Clean out the pan and place the meat and onions with the glaze in it. Cover (you can do this the day before too, but I think veal is best the day it is cooked - you can do the rest of the recipe earlier in the day and heat it gently if you would like.

Melt 4 Tbsp. butter slowly, then add the all-purpose flour, unbleached and stir it in - let it cook for a few minutes but do not let it brown. Slowly add the stock, whisking. Add vermouth and cognac. Cook it over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the sliced mushrooms tossed in the lemon juice and cook for another 10 minutes or until the mushrooms are soft. This cooking is what helps give the sauce the beautiful texture, don’t rush it.

Remove 1 cup of the sauce without the mushrooms. Whisk the egg yolks and cream together and add the reserved hot velouté.

Add this to the meat and onions and cook over a low heat, stirring gently. Do not let it boil. Keep the sauce below 180°F or the egg will curdle (using a wide-mouthed casserole makes this easy). Just for the heck of it I checked the temperature of the veal cubes - they seemed to be around 145°F - perfect medium.

When everything is heated though taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed, serve with noodles, rice or potatoes. Sprinkle with parsley and celery tops (I love the flavour of celery tops, originally, they were what was used and the bottoms were tossed!).

There are those who do not like the gray scum that veal can generate. If that bothers you, put the veal in a skillet and cover with water. Bring to a low boil for 2 minutes and then strain and rinse the veal. I did not do this step since I was more into the texture and the cloudy stock didn’t seem important in the velouté.

Makes 6-8 servings.

What to drink: A red Bordeaux.

For dessert: A Paris-Brest, a cream puff filled with whipped cream.