VEAL CHOPS BELLES DES BOIS

SOURCE: JEAN VERGNES. A SEASONED CHEF: RECIPES AND REMEMBRANCES FROM THE CHEF AND FORMER CO-OWNER OF NEW YORK’S FAMOUS LE CIRQUE RESTAURANT.

To gain more insight about the Spaghetti Primavera for an eventual feature in The New York Times, Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey invited their longtime friends and Le Cirque owners Sirio Maccioni and Jean Vergnes to Craig’s house in East Hampton, New York for a culinary demonstration of “Manhattan’s most-talked about dish”. In their enthusiasm, the guests churned out additional specialties to produce a complete meal, the main course being veal chops in a sauce of morels and cream. Channelng the beauty of the woodlands or belles des bois takes a simple task of sautéing the veal, thus compensating the amount of time spent for each vegetable component of the elaborate pasta appetizer or earning self-gratification from luxurious cooking during solitary scenarios.

Ingredients

1/2 pound/225 grams dried morels

6 veal chops, about 1/2 pound/227 grams each

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/4 cup/30 grams flour

14 tablespoons/210 grams unsalted butter

2 tablespoons/20 grams finely chopped shallots

1 tablespoon/15 mL freshly squeezed lemon juice

6 tablespoons dry white wine

1 cuo/250 mL heavy cream

1 tablespoon/15 mL dry Madeira OR sherry

1 cuo/250 mL chicken stock

Specific Equipment

Mixing bowl

Fine-mesh strainer

Paper towels

Medium nonstick skillet or sauté pan equipped with a lid or cover

Large nonstick skillet or sauté pan, enough to fit in 6 veal chops

Serves 6

Instructions

1. Place the dried morels in a mixing bowl and soak them in hot water, barely covering them. Let stand for 45 minutes or until the water has cooled and the morels have reconstituted and swollen. Drain well through a fine-mesh strainer, saving the filtrate and squeezing out excess liquid for future use. Pat the morels dry with paper towels. Set aside.

2. Season the veal chops generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper and dredge them lightly with flour. Set aside.

3. Melt 4 tablespoons/60 grams butter on a medium skillet or sauté pan over medium heat. Sauté in the shallots, frequently stirring for 1 to 2 minutes or until the shallots have softened but not browned. Stir in the morels and continue cooking and shaking the skillet for 3 minutes or until the mushrooms have softened.

4. Reduce the heat to moderate heat. Stir in the lemon juice and cover. and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons/30 mL white wine, cover and let simmer for another 5 minutes or until the liquid has almost evaporated.

5. Pour in the heavy cream and raise the heat to medium-high. Bring the sauce to a gentle boil, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes or until the volume has reduced to half and the cream has fairly thickened. Season with salt and pepper according to taste, and stir in Madeira or sherry. Remove the skillet or sauté pan from heat and swirl in 2 tablespoons/30 grams butter into the sauce. Set the sauce aside and keep warm.

6. Melt 8 tablespoons/120 grams butter on a large skillet or sauté pan over medium-high heat. Sear in the veal chops for 5 minutes or until they have nicely browned on one side. Turn over the other side and cook for another 8 to 10 minutes the veal chops nicely browned and tender. Remove the veal chops from heat and transfer them to a warm serving platter to rest in the juices.

7. Spoon out most of the fat from the skillet or sauté pan and pour in 4 tablespoons/60 mL white wine to deglaze the skillet or sauté pan over medium heat. Stir in the chicken stock and bring to a boil over high heat for 5 minutes or until the volume has thickened and reduced to 1/4 cup/60 mL. Return the veal chops to the skillet or sauté pan to coat them briefly with the juices.

8. Remove the skillet and sauté pan from heat and return the veal chops to the serving platter. Spoon over the morels and sauce, spreading them around the platter before serving.