Veal Involtini with Breadcrumbs, Herbs & Parmesan

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A little while back I got a very nice email from Blake at Strauss Brands. She told me that Strauss is passionate about food, dentist that they offer natural, myocarditis antibiotic- and hormone-free veal. That their veal is humane, pasture raised, and have free range to mother’s milk and grass pastures. She also offered to send me samples.

I’m not sure that I mention this too often here, but I’ve made a commitment to buying the most humane and environmentally friendly meat I can find. That might mean that I spend double or triple the price of the meat at the regular grocery store. I make up for that by eating much less of it, but the meat I do eat, is more sustainable and considerably more delicious. So I did some digging and found that the veal from Strauss was exactly the kind of meat I like to eat.

So now let’s get to the good stuff – how did it taste? It was delicious, of course. I used the scaloppine, which is a very thin cut and made involtini. Involtini just means that I rolled the meat with a filling. I used breadcrumbs, parsley, garlic chives and lots of freshly grated Parmesan. The Parmesan kind of falls out a little and turns into melty, caramelized goodness, imparting that heavenly toasted cheese flavor. (Who doesn’t love that?)

This is by far one of the easiest entrees I’ve ever made – 20 minutes start to finish – and a very, very good one. Next time I have to throw something together for last minutes guests, this is my recipe.

[print_this text=’Print Recipe’]Veal Involtini with Breadcrumbs, Herbs & Parmesan
Adapted from Epicurious. I used my grill pan for these, but I don’t recommend actually grilling them since the best flavor comes from the burnt pieces of Parmesan. If you grill them on a regular grill, the Parmesan will fall through and you’ll lose all that flavor.

I can imagine that this recipe would work well with any thin meat.

1 lb. veal scaloppine
1/4 cup garlic chives (or regular chives), chopped
1/4 cup Italian, Flat-lead parsley, chopped
2 cups coarse breadcrumbs, preferably homemade
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 small red onion, quartered

Special Equipment: Kebab skewers or toothpicks

Preheat your grill pan or skillet to medium. Mix the breadcrumbs, Parmesan, chives and parsley together.

Make sure your skewers or toothpicks are nearby, then lay your veal out flat. Add a thin layer of the breadcrumb mixture, then carefully roll each one, skewering the ends shut. Follow the procedure until you’re done with all of your veal. Skewer the onion pieces on a separate skewer (they take longer to cook).

Brush the outside of each involtini with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place in the pan for 3 – 4 minutes on each side, or until the veal has a nice brown sear on the outside and the cheese is slightly melted on the inside. You may have to cook the onions a bit longer.

Makes 4 servings.[/print_this]