Veal
Marsala with Asparagus Tips
An
AFN Clarke Recipe
This
recipe is based on a meal that my character Thomas Gunn has at London's Royal
Overseas League in Chapter Six of The
Orange Moon Affair.
Both
my father, my mother and I were members of the Royal Overseas League and it was
there as a family that we celebrated my father's award of the MBE by the Queen
at Buckingham Palace for his services to the British Community in Libya during
the 1969 revolution. He enjoyed veal marsala very much and this recipe is
dedicated to him. We lived in Libya for many years and travelled back to UK by
car (ferry from Tripoli to Siracusa) through Sicily and Italy enjoying the
food. Libya was once an Italian colony and one of my fondest memories as a
teenager was enjoying Spaghetti Bolognese served in big white bowls in an
Italian restaurant in one of the Italian style piazzas of what was then
Istaklal Street in Tripoli on a balmy summer evening..
Ingredients
4
Veal cutlets about 4oz each and 1/2" thick
3
Eschallots
Butter
Plain
Flour
1/2
teaspoon Fennel seeds ground
1
Brown mushroom
1
Porcini mushroom
1
Shitake mushroom
2
white mushrooms
1/2
cup vegetable stock
1/2
cup Marco de Bartoli Vignas la Miccia Marsala Superiore Oro DOC
1/4
cup chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
16
fresh Asparagus
4
medium roasting potatoes
1
Rosemary sprig
3
Green onions
8
small salad tomatoes de-seeded
Sea
Salt
Black
Pepper
Italian
dressing
2
bottles of Pienantroj Montepulciano D'Abruzzo 2007
Serves
4
Method
Preparation
is the key word here. If you don't get everything in order then you're going to
be behind all the way.
So
let's start with the potatoes. Heat the oven to 180°C or 160°C for a fan oven.
I use the Heston Blumenthal method, which delivers every time. Peel so they
have sharp edges, cut into quarters and boil in well-salted water until they
start to crack and are soft, about 15 to 20 minutes. Take them out gently, you
don't want them falling apart, and cool in a colander.
While
the potatoes are boiling grind the fennel seeds in a pestle and mortar until
you have a medium fine powder, mix with salt and ground black pepper, then rub
well onto the veal cutlets. Do not use too much fennel, you want a delicate
taste not an overpowering one. Cover and set aside for a few minutes so the seasoning
settles with the meat. Cut the asparagus stalks at the point where a sharp
knife goes through easily. Slice tomatoes and deseed, then slice again into
thin strips. Dice green onions. Cut mushrooms into 1/2 centimetre slices. Take
the rosemary sprigs and strip off the leaves into a bowl with 2 tablespoons of
olive oil. Mix with a little salt and ground black pepper. Not too much.
Once
the potatoes are cooled, toss them in the rosemary olive oil, lay on an
roasting tray and put them in the oven. Cook for 1 to 11/4 hrs. turning
every twenty minutes until golden and crispy.
Heat
oil and butter in a frying pan and sear the veal cutlets on all sides. Do not
overcook, the idea is to seal the outside and leave the inside still pink. It
will cook to temperature in the sauce. Take out and leave to one side while the
sauce is prepared. In the same pan sauté eschallots and mushrooms until they
soften, cook a further two minutes to remove a little water from the mushrooms.
There
are many ways to thicken sauce, but I always make a roux and then add the sauce
ingredients to it. It's more time consuming but the texture is so much better
and I don't like the flour on the meat. So take your vegetable stock that you
so loving made yesterday and heat it to boiling, turn it down then melt the
butter in a saucepan. Add flour stirring until the roux thickens to a soft
glistening paste. Cook for two to three minutes stirring all the time to make
sure the flour is cooked through so you don't get the taste of flour, then remove
from the heat, stir in your vegetable stock and marsala a little at a time
making sure there are no lumps. Add more stock and marsala until the sauce is
the consistency you want.
Add
the mushrooms and eschallots to the sauce and cook gently for about ten
minutes. Taste the sauce and season accordingly. Bring back to boil and add the
veal and cook for about five to seven minutes until the interior of the meat is
to temperature.
Now
for the asparagus. I like to saute them with the tomato strips, garlic and
green onions and enough olive oil to coat but not drench. Use a high heat and
cook until the outside of the vegetables are browned a little.
Remove
the potatoes from the oven and plate up, drizzling Italian dressing on the
potatoes. Garnish veal marsala with the parsley and pour generous glasses of
Pietantonj Montepulciano D'Abruzzo 2007 and enjoy.
Before
& After
For
an appetizer, a really fresh bruschetta works well. Here's an easy recipe:
Fresh
basil leaves torn and mixed with olive oil, finely diced garlic, diced plum
tomatoes and diced red onion on slices of garlic and rosemary foccacia bread
that has been drizzled with olive oil and toasted in the oven.
And
to finish the meal, a cheese platter with grapes and black pepper crackers.
Cambozola cheese is creamy with a hint of blue vein and goes very well with the
rest of the bottle of Marsala. Add whatever other cheeses and grapes take your
fancy. While not strictly Italian, Cambozola is a mix of French Brie and
Italian Gorgonzola with just the right tang to set off the meal.
Serves
4
The Orange Moon Affair - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish
"I saw the FIM-92 Stinger ground-to-air missile spearing up toward us from the far ridge. My reactions were slow and for a fatal moment I watched the white smoky trail from the rocket motor arc its way through the sky. I pulled on the collective and kicked the anti-torque pedals to port, almost escaping the oncoming death, but the rocket slammed into the tail boom. The earth spun in a lazy arc as the helicopter arched over backwards at fifty feet above the rocky desert as I lost control, spiralling to the ground, pieces flying in all directions, the only section remaining relatively intact being the forward cockpit, saved because the main rotor head deflected the impact. There was no pain, just a smashing, grinding, splintering sound. I felt a violent lurch as my head slammed into the side door, then silence."
When Thomas Gunn's father Sir Ivan Gunn
talked to him about taking over the family business, Gunn Group Industries,
Thomas had declined. He decided instead to join the military. After
eight years as an officer in the Special Forces Support Group, Thomas was
injured and now spends his life on board his fifty-seven foot Fountaine Pajot
with the love of his life, Julie. But when his father was kidnapped and
then murdered, Thomas was forced to take over the company. It didn't take
long for him to understand that someone had been transferring money into a
project that only his father knew about, or so he was told. And when
Julie's father started tracking the project, its people and those running it,
there was nothing to be found. With billions of dollars being transferred
to the project, someone was getting rich but who.
This book has more ups and downs than the
biggest roller coaster. There are government conspiracies that take in
some of the top names all around the world. Thomas and the few he feels
he might be able to trust, find themselves running all around the world
tracking those involved as well as the money. Try as I may, I did not
guess what was actually going on until it was exposed to me by the Author near
the end. This book was one I didn't want to put down. It was one
that irritated me (in a good way) because I couldn't guess the ending.
And it's one that I recommend, especially to the male readers who love a
good espionage, action book as well as those female readers who want a book
that will really grab them too. I loved this and am looking forward to
reading the next book in this series The
Jonas Trust Deception.