Braised Veal Rolls in Tomato Sauce

      

   
Braising, of course, is a fancy name for stewing a meat, that is cooking if for a fair amount of time partially submerged in some kind of liquid. Beef stew is a hearty and homey brasied meal. It brings a simple, warmness to any winter day. Interest and sophistication comes when beef stew goes to beef bourguignon, both in name and ingredients. Bacon provides a base oil to brown the meat, which is stewed in wine instead of stock or water. On top of these extra layers of flavors, I also love the variety of flavor that can be added by stuffing the meat. Many times, I think of this in the context of stuffing some kind of chop, such as veal chop, and roasting it. This recipe combines the wonderful goodness of a sophisticated stew with added layers of the ingredients in the stuffing. It remains easy to prepare and cook, and the results are to die for.  I paired it with angel hair pasta as in the picture above.  That was just my feeling for the evening, but feel free to serve the rolls by themselves, with a vegetable side, and the sauce ladeled on top.
   
The original recipe, from Mario Batali’s Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes to Cook at Home calls for dry red wine in which to braise the meat. Instead, I used a Vaqueyras leftover from the wine I served on Thanksgiving. This southern Rhone region is near to Chateauneuf-du–Pape both in location and taste with its grenache grape base and medium- to full-bodied round and smooth taste, as opposed to a more tannic Cabernet Sauvignon. The former style wine, as with a Burgundy or pinot noir based wine, I think does more to bring out this dish’s flavors, including the ingredients in its stuffing, which is why many translate beef bourguignon into beef burgundy. Anyway, enough geeky wine talk. Just make this recipe and you’ll be glad you did.  Serves 2.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 ounces sliced pancetta, diced
1 yellow onion, sliced
6 thin slices of veal
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted and chopped
2 tbsp golden raisins
2 tbsp grated pecorino romano
1 1/2 ounces sliced prosciutto di parma, diced
1/4 cup chopped italian parsley
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 large egg
1 cup red wine such as pinot noir
1 cup tomato sauce
salt/pepper

Directions:
In a medium bowl, combine the pine nuts, raisins, cheese, prosciutto, parsely and garlic.  Add the egg and mix well.  Season the veal slices on both sides with salt and peper and lay out flat.  Spread a portion of the stuffing mixture in a layer over each veal slice.  Starting from the narrowest end, role up each piece and pierce with a toothpick to hold in place.
In a Dutch oven or deep saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat, add pancetta and cook for 4 minutes.  When the pancetta starts to brown, add the onions and cook a few minutes to soften.  Remove the pancetta and onions and add the veal rolls, browning on all sides.  Remove the veal rolls and deglaze the pan with the wine, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Add the tomato sauce and the cooked pancetta and onions and stir to combine.  Bring the sauce to a boil, return the veal rolls to the pan and spoon some of the sauce over the rolls.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover.  Simmer for 1 hour, turning the rolls and spooning sauce on top periodically, and adding a little water if the sauce dries out too much.  Serve by plating the rolls and spooning the sauce over the top.