With a “Blanquette de Veau” Veal in a cream sauce recipe
Hey folks!! cold weather is getting here, days are getting shorter, how can you possibly warm up your house?? From the kitchen, actually. I don’t know about you but my weekend was an indoors one! horrible weather, long lazy days which I took to cook and cook! It was crazy! especially when I came up with my “Blanquette de veau” or veal stew in a cream sauce!
Blanquette de veau can be considered an institution of French cuisine. This dish and it’s recipe were first noted in the 1739 edition of Dons de Comus in which the author makes reference to its long tradition.
This dish represents what French cuisine does best, takes common ingredients and techniques and turns them into something elegant and refined…and you can recreate it at home.
The title of the dish gives you a hint as to what to expect—at least visually. Blanquette comes from the word blanc, which means white. In this stew, the meat, onions, and mushrooms, are all white and are swimming in a creamy white sauce.
To start the stew, veal breast along with various aromatic vegetables are poached in water.
Frequently when the dish is labeled à l’ancienne (in the old style) all the vegetables will be discarded and the veal and boiled pearl onions will be covered with a sauce made from the poaching liquid.
And then the sauce is thickened with a liaison of egg yolks and cream. In old recipes, mushrooms were never added, but most contemporary recipes use mushrooms and many even include aromatic vegetables, such as carrots. Blanquettes may also be made with fish, lamb, and sweetbreads. Classic accompaniments are steamed rice or fettuccine.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds trimmed veal shoulder cut into 2-inch pieces
- 8 1/2 cups chicken stock
- 1 large onion studded with a clove
- 1 garlic clove minced
- Bouquet garni 4 thyme sprigs, 8 parsley sprigs and 1 bay leaf tied with kitchen twine
- Salt
- 2 cups pearl onions
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 pound small white mushrooms halved
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- Freshly ground white pepper
- 1/3 crème fraiche or heavy cream
- 3 large egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- Rice or fettuccine or your favorite pasta, for serving
Instructions
- In a large enameled cast-iron casserole, cover the veal with cold water. Bring to a simmer and cook for 2 minutes. Drain the veal and rinse it under cold water.
- Wash out the casserole and return the meat to it. Add 8 cups of the stock, the large onion, garlic and bouquet garni and season with salt. Bring to a simmer, cover partially and simmer over moderate heat until the veal is very tender, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Drain the veal; reserve the broth. Discard the onion, garlic and bouquet garni. Rinse out the casserole and return the meat to it.
- Meanwhile, in a saucepan of boiling water, blanch the pearl onions for 30 seconds. Drain and transfer to a bowl of ice water. Drain again. Trim the roots and peel the onions.
- In a skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the pearl onions and remaining 1/2 cup of stock. Season with salt, cover and cook over low heat until the onions are tender, 30 minutes. Scatter the onions over the veal.
- In a bowl, toss the mushrooms with the lemon juice. In a large saucepan, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter over low heat. Add the flour and whisk until bubbling. Add 3 1/2 cups of the reserved veal broth and bring to a simmer, whisking constantly. Simmer over low heat, whisking frequently, until thickened, 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms, season with salt and white pepper and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Pour the mushrooms and sauce over the veal and add 2 tablespoons of the cream. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk the yolks with the remaining 1/2 cup of cream; season with salt and white pepper. Gradually ladle in about 1 cup of the hot sauce from the stew, whisking. Pour the enriched sauce into the casserole and warm the stew over low heat, stirring gently, until thickened; do not let the sauce simmer. Stir in the parsley and serve with rice or fettuccine.
10 thoughts on “Veal Blanquette”
I would love to try this “Blanquette de Veau” Veal in a cream sauce! So creamy and delicious. We’ve had some cold, wet weather too and I so agree that the kitchen is the perfect place to warm up! Cheers to a great week ahead my friend!
Allie!!thank you for stopping by!! I can just imagine the weather in your town so hurry up and begin cooking!
What a fun recipe, Gaila! I must admit that I’m not familiar with this one, but it sounds like the very definition of Fall and Winter comfort food! It’s hot (!) here today, but it’s supposed to cool back off towards the end of the week…perfect weather for some comfort food like this! Yum!
Thank you David!!this is a delicious recipe to make!! you won’t regret it!
I’ll never forget the first time I had veal. I was 19 and at a boyfriend’s house and wasn’t sure what to make of it until I tried it… I loved it! Of course! And this dish looks like comfort at its finest!! Delicious!! Stay warm, my friend!
Annie,
I totally agree veal is just so delicate and tender, delicious, thanks for stopping by!
I have such a weakness for cream sauce! This is absolutely going on my cold weather meal planning list!
Rachelle,
Darling thanks you for dropping by! I am weak when it comes to stewed or braised dishes! I would love to see pics when you begin your cold weather meal plan!! 🙂
Would be more likely to use this recipe if the text was easier to read. Why must we be so fancy?
Hello James,
Sorry, you feel this way. You can tell that English is not my first language, I would love you to try the recipe anyway. I hope you do. Regards from the Caribbean.