Brie-stuffed veal chop over fusilli pasta w/ veal reduction sauce
I know I promised a second veal post, but life at 2gourmaniacs has been somewhat frantic lately (much to our chagrin, we’ve discovered Twitter as a way to promote 2gourmaniacs). So, I am finally getting around to telling you about a quick and easy dinner recipe: my brie stuffed veal chop. I initially bought just one veal chop to flesh out (pun intended) the meat index and pictures on our site. Because Rosaria doesn’t eat meat, this one was all up to me and, of course, I’m up to the task.
If recollection serves me – and this is something that becomes harder as time goes on – the first time I had brie stuffed anything was in a small open air, hole-in-the-wall restaurant on St. John, USVI, where I lived for a couple of years. I remember ordering a fillet mignon, rare, and that when it arrived at the table it had a gash on one side, stuffed with a big wedge of brie oozing out. After the first bite, I knew that I’d be incorporating that technique into my repertoire, and I have been doing just that for the past twenty years.
Getting back to my single, lonely veal chop, here’s all you need: a handful of sliced crimini mushrooms, an oven roasted red pepper, cut into strips (I just happened to have some in the refrigerator from a different meal), 2 chopped shallots, 4 chopped garlic cloves, 1 qt veal or chicken stock, olive oil for sautéing, 2 tablespoons of butter for the sauce, a thick slice or wedge of brie, your favorite long pasta and, of course, a veal chop.
Here is what I did: while I sautéed the vegetables in olive oil with one of the chopped shallots and the garlic, I got some salted water to boil in a marmite. I hustled over to the freezer and extracted a 1 quart container of homemade veal stock, thawed it in a sauce pan and reduced it with the other chopped shallot in it. I then threw some fusilli pasta into the boiling water. While waiting for the pasta to cook, I went over and gave Rosaria a squeeze, and then scooped the mushrooms, shallots and garlic from the sauté pan and set it aside. I added another 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the pan and turned up the heat. When hot, I put in my lonely veal chop and seared it two minutes per side. I then transferred it to the cutting board and, with a sharp boning knife, slit open the chop lengthwise, inserting the wedge of soft brie cheese inside it. Keeping a weathered eye on Rosaria hovering over my shoulder as I tested the pasta which was close to al dente (she’s the ultimate al dente critic at 2 gourmaniacs), I slipped the mushrooms, shallots and garlic along with chopped roasted red peppers in to my reduction sauce and whisked in 2 tablespoons of butter, mixing well.
Just before plating, I placed the veal chop under broiler to melt the brie. Batting Rosaria’s hand away from the marmite holding the cooked pasta, I drained it and took a healthy tongful and put it on a plate, adding some of the sauce, then the veal chop and a little more sauce on top of that. A grind or two of sea salt and pepper, and it was good to go, but first, a short stop in front of the camera, naturally.
The best part was taking that first bite and having the creamy explosion of the brie doing the mambo across my tongue with the tenderness of the veal. As I cast a downward glance at my dinner, I was immediately sorry that I had deprived this lone veal chop of a sibling on my plate.
RMA
