The recipe that I am sharing with you today is one of my favorite Italian dishes. If you like butter, you are in for the time of your life. The cooking style of "saltimbocca" has been around for centuries--veal saltimbocca is probably the most popular version, but you can also cook chicken and, I would imagine, other meats in this style. I utilized my favorite online translation dictionary and discovered, to my dismay, that the English translation of saltimbocca is "slice of veal rolled with ham and sage and shallow-fried." Seriously? After a bit more digging, I discovered that the roots of the word quite possibly mean "jumps in the mouth." The Italian verb "saltare" means "to jump" and the word "bocca" is Italian for "mouth." Now THAT was what I was looking for! This dish does exactly that--it is delectable.
The main idea is that you pan fry (in BUTTER, of course) this slices of veal that have been seasoned with sage and folded in half with prosciutto stuffed in the middle. Once the veal is cooked, you remove it from the pan and add MORE butter and white wine to create a delightful sauce. Some chefs will also add capers to the dish. There is also "saltimbocca alla Romana" which means that the sauce contains Marsala instead of white wine. But however this dish is cooked, I guarantee that it will make your bocca water...
Required Ingredients for Veal Saltimbocca (Food for Four):
- 1/4 lb. prosciutto, thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 sticks (12 tbs.) of butter
- 1 cup of white wine (I just use cooking white wine)
- Flour (to coat veal)
- Several tsp. of rubbed sage
- Salt and Pepper
- Toothpicks
I served this dish on top of spaghetti and with a side of sautéed squash and zucchini. If you choose to cook with these items--the sauce from the veal will be a more-than-suitable topping for the spaghetti--you should also grab the following:
- 1 lb. spaghetti
- 2 small yellow squashes
- 2 zucchinis
- Minced garlic (I like to have a big container in my fridge--I use it ALL the time)
- Olive oil (Extra virgin, of course)
Go ahead and start heating up water for the spaghetti (add some salt to the water if you desire). As the water is coming to a boil, start preparing your veal. Put a sheet of parchment/wax paper on a cutting board. Lay out the pieces of veal (you will probably need to do this in two batches) and cover with another piece of parchment/wax paper. Now pull out your meat tenderizer (a mallet or even a hammer can do the job if you're desperate). Start pounding so that the veal ends up being about 1/4 inch thick.
Now season each piece of veal with some pepper and rubbed sage (eyeball it). Then put a piece of prosciutto on top of each piece of veal.
Fold each piece of veal/prosciutto in half and then secure with a toothpick.
Pull out a sauté pan and melt a 1/2 stick of butter 4 tbs.) at medium-high heat. While melting, put some flour in a bowl. Once the butter has melted (I was hungry...I didn't wait), coat each piece of veal/prosciutto in flour and then add to the pan.
Each side of the veal should cook for about 3 minutes (6 minutes total).
Once they have cooked, put the veal on a plate and cover with aluminum foil so that they stay warm. If you had to do this in two batches, repeat all previous instructions (but you don't need to add any more butter to the pan). Once you have put the last batch in the pan to cook, you should now chop up your zucchini and squash into 1-inch chunks. Remember to flip over your veal, though! Heat up about a teaspoon of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and add another teaspoon of minced garlic. Once the garlic starts to sizzle, add the zucchini and squash chunks and top with some salt and pepper.
Don't forget to remove the veal from the heat and to add the spaghetti to the water once it has boiled. The zucchini and squash will cook (make sure to toss them around a bit while they cook so they don't stick to the bottom of the pan) while you make the butter-wine sauce that will top your veal and spaghetti. In the same pan that you cooked the veal, add 1 cup of white (cooking) wine.
Bring it to a boil and let it reduce for 10 minutes over medium to medium-high heat. While it's reducing, make sure to scrape up some of the veal goodness that was left behind! After those 10 minutes, reduce the heat on your wine to low and also reduce the heat on your zucchini and squash to low.
Make sure not to forget about your spaghetti...Now whisk 1 stick of butter in with the wine a bit at a time (don't add the whole stick at once).
Once all of it has been added, you are done! Put a pile of spaghetti on a plate and top with a few pieces of veal and THE SAUCE. And serve with a side of zucchini/squash and a slice of lemon. Buon appetito!
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