After our loss on Saturday (which I'm a little bit more over now) I turned to Todd and said, "You're taking me out for dinner. I want to go to Ralph's."
We didn't go because he fell asleep on the floor and I fell asleep with Pickles (Cookie) resting on my chest. She's cute.
I was getting ready to plan for dinner yesterday afternoon and I still was craving either Chicken or Veal Mozzarella from Ralph's. If you've never been to Ralph's, please go. Now. I've been making trips so Ralph's since 2003 when we used to go just about Saturday night. It's one of those places in the city who still only accepts cash and to be a server there you have to be related or know someone...I'm not convinced that the servers (all men) aren't using it for a cover for something else- similar to the title of waste management if you get what I'm saying. Wink, wink.
Around the time when I made these weekly trips to Ralph's I bought the official Ralph's cook book to tried and make a few of the dishes myself. While trying to recreate my favorite dishes I had a good laugh (and made a HUGE mess) since each of the recipes in the book have ingredient lists that would be suitable for making banquet size portions. I quickly gave up on that dream and left it up to the pros. I like going out for dinner anyway.
So last night I decided that it was time to give it a shot again. I Googled Ralph's Veal Mozzarella and it came right up! Just like the cookbook, the Food Network also indicated that the ingredient list for the roux was for a banquet size proportion but after a few years of cooking experimentation, I was able to make a small batch- otherwise, the recipe worked out spectacularly as is (minus 20 slices of mozzarella.)
I made one change- I didn't want to buy veal at a grocery store so I stuck with the pork medallions I already had at home.
Side note- I had a funny little interaction in the liquor store when I bought the Sherry. I asked the lady behind the counter (HUGE gold earrings with a name plates, HUGE hair and a lip ring) about her experience with cooking with Sherry and she gave me the look I used to give to Sister Gertrude in Trig. I thought I'd try.
I've decided that even though I didn't try, you CAN'T make this dish without the Sherry. As soon as I poured the sherry into the pan of melting butter, that familiar aroma filled the kitchen and I my mouth WATERED. Whenever I make a recipe for the first time, I'm ALWAYS disappointed but the cooking gods were with me last night and dinner was a hit but then again, whenever I've used and ENTIRE stick of butter I've never been wronged either.
I'm going to give this dish a whirl again since I have plenty of bouillon on hand and a whole bottle of Sherry but next time I think I'll try it with Chicken and maybe margarine to make it a little friendlier on the waistline.
Oh yea, and if anyone wants to buy me a Christmas gift, I'd like a meat tenderizer. As it goes, although using a hammer to pound away at the meat isn't the worst idea I've ever had, it sure isn't the easiest way to work on a piece of meat.
Ingredients
- 12 (2-ounce) medallions milk-fed veal, pounded thin
- 2 cups
flour
- 2 cups vegetable
- 1/2 pound butter
- 2 tablespoons roux, recipe follows
- 1/4 cup sherry
- 24 slices mozzarella, sliced thin
Directions
Dredge veal in flour. Saute veal in oil for 2 minutes on each side. When done, drain oil, add butter, roux and sherry. Bring to a boil lower heat and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
At this point, layer 2 mozzarella slices on each piece of veal. Put pan under broiler to melt cheese.
Serve 3 pieces of veal on each plate, spoon sauce over all.
Roux:
- 16 ounces chicken broth
- 6 rounded tablespoons flour
- 4 ounces water
In mixing bowl, add flour to water while whisking. Mixture must be smooth, with no lumps. Bring chicken broth to a boil. When boiling, whisk in flour mixture, again making sure there are no lumps. Allow to cool,then store, covered, in the refrigerator, until needed.
pot o' spaget.
Fresh mozzarella.
Beautiful little pork babies.
Unreal.
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