Veal with Spinach, Gorgonzola & Mushrooms

Plans sometimes have a way of changing because of inconvenient little problems wrapped around pesky simian-sounding tools. A.K.A., monkey wrenches. Pow! The plan gets blown to smithereens.
 
That's exactly what happened with Saturday night's dinner. I'd planned (notice the past tense) to make a quick and simple veal cutlet with spinach, mushrooms, lemon and gorgonzola. I figured on a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up what I needed and dinner would be ready in a snap. We hadn't had veal in many years...couldn't wait!

After picking up pre-sliced fancy mushrooms and lucking upon a mild and tangy buttermilk gorgonzola, I headed back to the meat case at our local market - which shall remain unnamed. (Okay, the initials are GE and I'm NOT talking General Electric, if you get my drift.) A quick search of the service meat case produced no veal to be seen.

After waiting a while for the "butcher" to finally look up from his meat-wrapping intensity way in the back of the prep area, I asked if there was veal cutlet to be had. He came around the case, lead me past the "service meat" counter to the prepackaged meat case area and grandly showed me the "veal." 

Not only was it prepackaged, it hadn't even been packaged in their own meat department. Good lord, it was vacuum sealed from some big veal factory from God knows where and pre-sliced into what was billed as scallopini. Scallopini? Looked like scraps to me. Nope. Not gonna.

Okay, I'm flexible...instead of veal cutlet and weiner schnitzel, I'd compromise and do a pork cutlet and make it a schwein schnitzel. Nope. No pork cutlets either. Did I think "service meat" in a grocery store would be an actual butcher shop with real, cut-able meat? What century did I think I was living in?

So I headed to the Strip District and Strip District Meats. Surely the huge butcher shop lined on both sides with rows of end-to-end display cases, piled sky high with meats would carry veal. Yes! They did! 

The nice young woman behind the counter led me past those long lines of cases stacked with chicken, pork belly, pork chops and steaks to the veal area at the back of the store. To the FREEZER CASE in the back of the store! Oh they had veal alright, frozen, pre-packaged, vacuum sealed veal. Oh HELL no, not again.

I could have used chicken. But that's not what we wanted. Why waste good mushrooms and SPECIAL gorgonzola on chicken when both Mark and I were craving veal? Saturday's special plans came and went. I think I made omelets instead. Eh.

The next day I checked the internet and Googled "Pittsburgh Butcher Shops." Tom Friday's Market in BrightonHeights came up on my screen. I called good old Tom. YES, they do cut FRESH veal to order! Honest to God fresh, not frozen, veal the way it used to be done. Hallelujah! 

Mark stopped at Friday's real butcher shop today...that lovely little local, independently owned butcher shop with the helpful and friendly staff (and Tom himself!) and picked up exactly what we wanted. Instead of a quick Saturday night dinner, our special veal night became a quick Tuesday night dinner.  It was worth the wait!

I learned something in the process. Things change, not always for the better. "Service" isn't always what you might expect it to be. BUT. Persistence and a lucky Google search may eventually produce positive results. That and the discovery of a new-to-me REAL butcher shop that now has a customer for life.

Veal with Spinach, Gorgonzola & Mushrooms

Serves 4

• 1 pound veal cutlet, gently pounded thin with the flat side of a meat mallet - cut into 6-8 pieces
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup buttermilk - echoes the buttermilk gorgonzola below
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup panko (more if you need it) gluten-free to make this GF, regular if gluten isn't an issue

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced - I like the gourmet variety with oyster mushrooms, criminis and baby bellas - use what you like best!
• 1 bag spinach, baby, cut coarsely
• 1/4 cup gorgonzola cheese, crumbled, plus extra for garnish - I used a mild, but flavorful, buttermilk gorgonzola (and yes, I got it at GE)
• 1/2 lemon, juiced, extra slices for garnish

Spread the panko on a large plate. Beat the egg and buttermilk together and pour into a second large plate. Dip each piece of veal into the egg wash, then into the panko and coat each side well. Set onto a third large plate until all are coated. Don't lay the pieces on top of each other; keep each piece separate to let the crumbs set. Season with salt & pepper.
 
Heat a large skillet.  Add oil & butter and melt over high heat. As soon as the pan is hot, add the veal pieces in batches.  Don't crowd. It won't take long for them to cook, just brown quickly on both sides and remove to a plate. Keep warm while doing the other batch(es). Don't overcook the veal....it's tender, delicate and you do NOT want it to be tough.
 
Once the veal is all browned and removed to a plate, add another tablespoon of butter to the pan. Quickly add the mushrooms and garlic and stir for a minute or two. Add the spinach and stir until the spinach is wilted. Add the gorgorzola and the juice of half a lemon. Stir and remove from heat.
 
Spoon the spinach mixture over the veal pieces, garnish with additional crumbled gorgonzola if you wish and a few lemon slices.


NOTE: Don't want to use veal because of the expense? I don't blame you.  That's why it's been so long since I've made it at home. Use pork instead or even chicken. Be sure to pound whatever you use thinly, but gently. Use bleu cheese if you prefer or leave out the cheese completely. The recipe is flexible...like we all need to be. 

Gorgonzola Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Meat and potatoes.  Basic.  Simple.  Everybody's favorite!  Here's one quick and easy, and yet somehow a little bit fancy, mashed potato recipe to go with steaks or a roast. Okay, it's quick and easy IF you roast the garlic ahead of time...and really, isn't it a good idea to keep roasted garlic handy?

Roast a few bulbs, squeeze the soft buttery cloves out of the bulb (after it's cooled) and freeze the lovely golden stuff in a snack size freezer bag.  If you press the bag out flat and thin, it's easy to break off a piece that's just the right amount any time you need it.

Gorgonzola Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

• 3 pounds russet potatoes, peel, cut into size-sized chunks
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup milk, more or less, depending upon how dry your potatoes are (buttermilk is really good for a nice tart zing!)
• 1 head garlic, roasted, cooled and garlic pulp squeezed out
• 3 ounces gorgonzola cheese, crumbled & extra to sprinkle on each serving
• salt and pepper, to taste

Put potato chunks into a pot of cold water - just to cover.  Bring to boil and reduce heat to simmer.  Remove from heat & drain immediately when a knife pierces the potato easily.
 

Add butter and mash with a potato masher - these aren't light fluffy potatoes, they're hearty.  Add the milk - a little less than called for and if the potatoes are thick, add more.  If the potatoes are still too thick add more milk until a nice consistency, but not too thin.  Add the rest of the ingredients except for cheese.  Mix well.  Add gorgonzola, adjust seasonings and serve.  Garnish with a little more gorgonzola before serving.

To Roast Garlic:  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cut carefully across the top of a WHOLE head of garlic just exposing the very top of the inside cloves - do NOT separate the cloves.  Place the head of garlic on a double square of aluminum foil.  Drizzle with a little olive oil and seal up the foil around the garlic tightly.  Roast until the garlic is soft and golden - 45 minutes to an hour.  Don't burn it, just roast until soft.  Remove from oven and cool.  Make several heads at once, squeeze out the soft pulp and freeze in small snack size freezer bags.  Don't put too much in a bag so you can spread it out about 1/4" thick so once it's frozen you can snap off pieces of the frozen garlic pulp as needed.  No need to thaw!

  

Bacon Roasted Green Bean Salad with Gorgonzola & Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette

What was Sunday’s dinner plan?  It was a simple jerk chicken on the grill.  (Jerk is so easy when you use Busha Browne’s Jerk Seasoning – the paste kind – all you do is rub it on the raw chicken or pork and let it marinate for a while.  I’ve mentioned it here before  and now I’ve found it in the Strip at Reyna’s!  Go get yourself some.  I SWEAR that wasn't a paid advertisement!) 

Anyway, since the chicken was a snap to make, I decided to make a more complicated salad.  Don’t you know it?!  I made that complicated salad easy, too!  The salad?  It was a roasted green bean, bacon, garlic slivers, sunflower kernels and gorgonzola with a balsamic vinegar, mustard & maple vinaigrette.  The salad is served warm.  You say you don’t think it sounds easy?  Everything but the gorgonzola was roasted together on a baking sheet and cooled to room temp before dressing with the vinaigrette.  Yep, a cinch!

Oh, and the other side dish was a really sweet and fresh corn on the cob from Georgia.  Florida corn abounds around here, but I’ve never seen GA corn before! Maybe it was fresher and sweeter because Georgia is closer than Florida?  Until our local corn comes in, I'm looking for the Georgia stuff every time!  I already have plans for the leftovers....a mango sweet corn salsa!  Look for that recipe next, folks!

Let’s get to the salad so you can make it, too!

Bacon Roasted Green Bean Salad 

with Gorgonzola & Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette

• 1 pound green beans, fresh, end snapped off and broken into 2 1/2" pieces
• 8 larqe garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
• 4 slices bacon, thick sliced, cut across into 1/2" lardons, cooked halfway done
• 1/4 cup sunflower kernals
• olive oil spray - I put my own into a Misto spray bottle - love it!
• freshly ground black pepper

• 1/4 cup gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup, the REAL stuff, you know I prefer grade B for more flavor!
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard, I like Coleman's
• freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 450.  Scatter beans across a baking sheet with a rim.  Then evenly scatter the garlic and sunflower kernels and last, the bacon.  Spray lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with pepper. 
 

Roast in oven for 15-20 minutes until the bacon is crisp and the green beans are done, but not limp.  Remove from oven and cool.
 

While the beans are cooling, mix the olive oil, balsamic, maple syrup, mustard and pepper with a whisk until emulsified. 
 

Pour the vinaigrette over the beans, toss with gorgonzola and serve at room temperature.