My Mother's Cooking - Veal Stew with Mushrooms

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Veal Stew with Mushrooms

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We didn’t eat a lot of veal when I was growing up because it was too expensive. However, sometimes when it was on sale, my mother would make veal stew.

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Instead of browning the meat like she did with beef, my mother would boil the veal in water or chicken stock and then finish it with mushrooms in a white sauce. She would then serve it over rice.

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I continue to make this stew from time to time, but I have modified the recipe to thicken it with cream and egg yolk rather than with flour. I also use fresh button mushrooms rather than canned ones and I use the very small whole onions rather than cutting up larger onions. The small onions are quite a bit more expensive but they add so much to the flavor and appearance that I highly recommend them.

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Difficulty:

Easy

Preparation Time:

60 Minutes

Cooking Time:

1 Hour

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Ingredients:

2 Lbs. Boneless Veal Stew Meat cut into one inch cubes

1 Medium Onion peeled and left whole

10 Oz. of Small Onions peeled and left whole

16 Oz. of Button Mushrooms Washed, trimmed and cut in half

1 Carrot scrapped and cut into one inch rounds

1 Stalk of Celery peeled and cut into one inch slices

2 Garlic Cloves crushed

2-32 Oz. Boxes of Chicken Stock

1 Cup of Heavy Cream

1 Tablespoon of Butter and one of Oil

2 Egg Yolks

1 Whole Clove

1 Tablespoon Thyme

1 Tablespoon Salt

12 Whole Black Peppercorns

1 Tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice

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Cooking Instructions:

1. Combine the chicken stock, sliced celery and carrot, the onion with a clove stuck in it, the garlic, the thyme, the salt, the bay leaf and the peppercorns in a large pot and bring it to a boil.
2. Add the cubed veal and simmer for about 45 minutes until the veal is just tender.
3. Meanwhile, blanch the peeled onions for five minutes in boiling water.
4. When the veal is tender, strain the solid ingredients out of the stock and continue cooking the strained stock until it is reduced to about one half.
5. Remove the onion, carrots, celery, bay leaf, garlic and peppercorns from the veal cubes and discard them. (If you don’t like to separate these items by hand, consider putting all of them except the veal in a cheesecloth bag so that they can be removed easily. I generally don’t bother.)
6. Meanwhile, quickly brown the mushrooms in the oil and butter mixture.
7. Add the egg yolks to the cream and mix thoroughly with a wire whisk.
8. Slowly combine the cream/egg mixture to the reduced stock and adjust the salt level if necessary. Do not boil the mixture.
9. Add the veal, onions and mushrooms back into the liquid and reheat everything, but do not let it boil.
10. Add the lemon juice to your particular taste.
11. Serve over rice with a tossed salad or a green vegetable such as asparagus.

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