Dash Home For Dinner

Crispy Veal Patties with a Sweet Sausage Tomato Sauce served with Rice Pilaf and Herb Roasted Vegetables


   Neighboring Coto de Caza is Dove Canyon. Last Sunday there was the annual Dove Dash and with this recipe you are going to want to Dash home yourself to enjoy this great dinner.
When you walking inside you will smell the sweet aromas of fennel seed and caramelizing onions and sausage all of which is simmering in a lite tomato sauce. This is liberally spooned over a crispy veal patty. The veal is juicy, full of flavor with an almost sweet characteristic and of course tender. To the side, fluffy rice pilaf with small diced mirepoix and depth of flavor with a little acidity from the white wine. Pulling the items together is a generous helping of herb roasted mushrooms, zucchini and cauliflower, with the earthiness from the mushrooms, the slight sweetness of the zucchini and the great texture and crunch from the cauliflower these vegetables pair delightfully with this dish. This is a classic entree yet refined so each flavor comes through and presents itself while melding together to make a great dish.
   First let's get started with the veal patties, we enjoy getting all are red meat from El Toro meats butcher shop; I know your saying veal isn’t red, but it is the same family and the quality you can get from there will surpass any other place. We purchase 1 pound of veal top round and send it through a meat grinder on a fine plate, to this ground meat we add 3 tbs. of minced shallots, 1 tsp. of salt, 1/2 tsp. of black pepper and paprika, 1/2 tsp. each of dried marjoram, oregano and parsley. Gently mix the meat mixture and incorporate 1 egg. This is the base of your patties, portion into 5 patties each weighting around 3 oz., Form your patties in an oval shape and press them flat to a quarter inch in height. Place patties in refrigerator for at least 2 hours to firm up, if this isn’t done the fine tender veal has a tendency to break apart in the breading process. 
   Alright on to breading, use the SBP, standard breading procedure, which consists of first dusting in flour, then dipping in egg wash and finally put in and coated with bread crumbs, for this recipe we use a combination of Italian bread crumbs and fine panko bread crumbs in equal portions with some finely chopped parsley mixed in.
Now your veal is ready to fry, use a large sauce pan on medium heat, add canola oil and a little drizzle of olive oil , you want there to be enough oil to reach the sides of the patties, but not cover, to little oil and the patties won’t brown but burn, to much oil and they come out greasy like you put them in the fryer; so half way works best. Pan fry for about 2 minutes on each side. The patties should be nice and golden brown with an internal temperature of 165 degrees; place on a wire rack and pat dry with a paper towel.
   For the meat sauce we use 1/2 pound sweat Italian sausage, brown the sausage and break apart in a cast iron pan, ounce broken apart and fully cooked remove from the pan and caramelize 1 onion thinly sliced then add 2 cloves sliced garlic and cook for 1 more minute; pour off any extra oil in the pan  add 3 cups fresh tomato sauce and bring to a simmer, then add your sausage back in with a sprig of thyme, parsley and basil. Check seasoning , at this point you can add 1 tsp. of red chili flakes if you want it spicy.
   Pairing nicely with the sauce and veal is a classic rice pilaf; in a medium pot with a little oil begin to sweet 1/3 cp. classic fine diced mirepoix (onion, carrot, celery), you want to sweet so that means no color or caramelization of the vegetables, ounce there translucent about 2 minutes add 1 cup basmati or jasmine rice ( rice is rinsed under cold water until completely clean then placed in a colander until dry), toast the rice in the pan getting each grain covered in oil, cook for 1 minute, add 1/4 cp. white wine and allow the alcohol to cook off then add 1 and a1/2  cups of water plus a little pinch of salt, bring to a simmer, cover and cooker about 20 minutes, until all the moister is absorbed and the rice is soft and fluffy. A reader asked if the can streamline this recipe and just cook the vegetables and add them to rice in a rice cooker; the answer is No, to achieve a pilaf you need to cook the rice in oil so that it doesn’t stick together and adds depth of flavor, so use a pot for the best pilaf.
With the vegetables we like to use a combination of 1cp. mushrooms, stems removed and cut in fourths, 1 cp. zucchini medium diced and 1 and 1/2 cp. small cauliflower florets. Mix all on a baking sheet and generously coat with an herb marinate; an easy herb marinade can be made by blending 2 cp. Italian dressing with 1 small shallot, 2 garlic cloves, a 1/3 cp. parsley, 10 basil leaves, 2 sprigs of thyme - no stems and 3 sprigs of oregano - no stems. Roast in a oven at 400 degrees until brown and tender about 15 to 20 minutes; sometimes the outside perimeter will get a little burnt, that’s just the price you pay for a good roast; discard any burnt pieces.
   When ready to serve slice the veal patty and place on the plate, form rice in a small bowl and place along the side of the veal with the roasted vegetables then liberally spoon the sauce over the veal, it is so good you might just want to pour it all over the top; so use some restraint. Garnish and Enjoy
Congratulations to all that participated in the Dove Dash, I am sure you worked up an appetite and this will be a great dish to fill you up.
   Thank you for reading, your engagement, and inviting us into your home. For more information please send me a message