Garlic/Rosemary Veal Chops

A BIG shout out to our friends at “She Cooks He Cleans”, another fantastic blog for people with a zest for life and equally for those who kinda like food too! I was trolling the net yesterday afternoon looking for an easy recipe to fire up on the grill. I knew that I wanted veal – it’s been a while and well, when a craving hits, it hits hard. I ended up finding a great post dated November 2011 here from Nancy and James…thanks you two – it was a resounding success in this Singapore household and the family was begging for more.

Here goes:

• 4 veal chops (bone in)
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, stemmed and chopped
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (I ran out of Kosher salt)
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 3 teaspoons water
• enough olive oil to make a soupy paste-like goo – this is your marinade!

Chuck in all the ingredients above, minus the veal chops into a hand blender and give it a few pulses. Not enough to liquify but just enough to make a pasty marinade that will stick to your chops. Keep adding a bit of olive oil a bit at a time if you need to make it a little bit more runny.

Once done, wash off your chops and place them into a large zip top bag. Pour in your marinade and try to get as much of the air out of the bag as possible. Then give it a good squish around ensuring an even coating of your chops. Just be careful not to press too hard or the rib bones will pop out of the plastic and it gets awfully messy when that happens! Back in the fridge for a couple of hours – 3 in our case as we were in a bit of a rush and I didn’t pre-plan. Given there’s no acid in the marinade, you can easily let it sit overnight however it worked just fine with three hours of marinating!

Set up your grill for direct heat and aim for about 400 degrees F for ambient temperature. I found way too many recipes online where they tell you to get your grill up to 700 degrees or above and sear the hell out of your veal. Go right ahead if you like to eat veal that resembles the soles of your work boots.

400 F is a solid medium heat that will cook your chops in about 10-12 minutes total time. Place them right out of the fridge onto a well seasoned grid. I popped in my trusty digital thermometer probe and set it for an internal temperature alarm at 150 F internal (medium for veal.) Flip the chops at the 5 minute mark to get the lovely caramelised sear marks on your chops. At 10 minutes total time, refer to your thermometer and take them off at 150 F. Place the chops on a plate and loosely tent with aluminium foil and let them rest for 10 minutes more.

Heather made up a platter of Dauphinoise potatoes (link here) and some steamed garlic/broccoli. Quite honestly, this combination along with a light red wine like a pino noir, went down a legend. The little dance on the pallet went on for at least an hour after dinner.

Thanks Nancy! Great recreation of an awesome recipe!

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Overall Heather Rating: 10/10

Grilled Veal Chops with Rosemary & Lemon

STOP THE PRESSES!  We’ve got a new classic grilling recipe to share…veal chops marinated in olive oil, lemon and rosemary from the garden!

I went to the market today to prepare for tomorrow’s tandoori chicken dinner (which takes over 24 hours to marinate) and I happened to come across the special items section at the meat counter.  Just my luck, I picked up two MASSIVE veal chops for $16 – an absolute and utter (or udder) steal! I found a great little recipe for veal chops and wanted to share with you so here you go…this one is a definite MUST TRY!

• 2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
• 1 tbsp. minced fresh rosemary
• 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1/3 c. olive oil
• 2 (1.25 inch thick) veal chops
• Kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Combine first four ingredients in a lock top bag and season with Kosher salt and pepper to taste. Add the veal chops to the marinade, squish the bag around to ensure an even coating and allow to marinate for at least 3 hours or better yet overnight. I do want to try the overnight but sadly I only had 3 hours to spare this afternoon. Once you’re all marinated up, grill over glowing coals (or 500 F) for 8 minutes on each side for medium rare. Pull the chops off the grid and let them rest for about 4-5 minutes to redistribute all the juices and then serve.

To go along with the veal chops I also made up some white rice and an easy raspberry/spinach salad that goes something like this:

• 1 packet of fresh leafy spinach – 120 g
• 1 packet of Driscoll’s raspberries, split in two
• 1/2 a cup of walnuts, toasted and covered in melted brown sugar to crisp them up
• toss the salad and then make the dressing to put on your plated salad – don’t drizzle the bowl as you’ll wilt the spinach quickly.

The dressing goes like this:

• 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp of granulated white sugar
• 1/4 tsp dried tarragon
• 1/8 tsp onion powder
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder

This was a great, inexpensive and fantastically flavoured meal! Honestly, a huge surprise and Heather’s first veal chop…thankfully done to perfection!

Cheers,

Roman

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Overall Heather Rating: 9/10