Blanquette de veau

 Recipe from chef patrick

Ingredients :
served with Pilau Rice. An all time favorite.

For 6 guests :
1,5 kg of veal shoulder (divided into approximately 18 pieces, 70 gr each)
3 veal ribs cut in half (for taste)
150 gr de carrots et 2 onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, degermed and crushed
1 bouquet garni
100 gr of fine butter

For the garnish:
250 grs small mushrooms (champignons de Paris)
200 gr of pearl onions

For the sauce:
1,5 dl whipping cream
the juice of 1/2 a lemon
80 gr of butter
80 gr of flour
3 egg yolks

Direction :
In the original recipe the veal pieces are generally immersed in cold waterand then cooked with their garnish. However, I would like to show you my personal recipe, which has proved to be successful many times. Go ahead and tell me if you liked it !
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the diced vegetables, the garlic and the bouquet garni. Cook covered during 5 min. Next, add the veal meat. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and keep cooking over low heat, covered.
Now that you are enjoying the nice smell of your kitchen, cover with water. Check the seasoning once the water starts boiling. Cook covered for 1 hour being careful to remove any impurities using a small ladle.
While this is cooking prepare your garnish: peel the mushrooms and wash them quickly. Do the same with the pearl onions. Sauté both of these ingredients on low heat, using some butter on a small skillet for 15 min, being careful not to brown them.
Remove the veal meat from its saucepan, as well as the bouquet garni. Blend the remaining vegetables and broth in order to obtain a sauce which you should then sieve.
Using the same saucepan in which the meat was cooked, melt 80 gr of butter and stir in the flour (making what wa call a white "roux"). Slowly stir in half of the veal stock, setting the other half aside for the rice.
Add the veal meat to this sauce. Add the garnish with its juices and bring to a boil.
Taste and check the seasoning.
Using a bowl, mix the egg yolks, the cream and the lemon juice stirring quickly. Add 2 full ladles of boiling sauce. Mix well and pour this over the blanquette.
WARNING: this should only be done just before serving so that the sauce does not boil again (to avoid the eggs from cooking).
Some other ideas for this recipe are: not using any onions or mushrooms, but blending in 400 gr of asparagus tips or 400 gr of peas and some spinach leaves into the sauce instead, just before serving... the absolute best is to add some morel mushrooms, which transform this dish into a royal delicacy.