Flashback to Tuscany - Veal Piccata

Here’s a little foodie flashback to last year.
The Place: Tuscany.
The Setting: Our Villa.
The Dish: Veal Piccata.

The wife and I were fortunate enough to spend a week in a villa just outside of Florence, in the Tuscan region of Italy last year.
 
 

One if the best features of staying in a villa was having our own kitchen to cook up a few delicacies from the locale produce we found around the area. And yes, I was taking pictures of my food even back then. Little did I know I’d have this blog one day on which to share them.

So, let’s set the scene. We had just spent the day driving from Verona to the villa, and it was getting late, twilight was setting in, and we were starved. We found a little grocery store that was still open (stores keep notoriously odd hours in Europe) and we grabbed a few items fast. They had some lovely scallops (thin slices) of veal, so we rang that up along with a few other trifles and necessities (i.e., wine) for the evening.

Note:  This isn’t the most perfect recipe for veal Piccata that I’ve ever found, but since we were in a hurry, and just had a few basic ingredients at hand, it is what we went for. It actually made for a very simple, yet very tasty little dish.


Veal Piccata

4 scallops of veal, about a half pound, sliced very thin
olive oil
butter
lemon juice
capers
white wine

Add olive oil to frying pan, and saute the veal scallops, in batches if necessary, over hight heat for about a minute a side.
 

Its best to get the oil nice and hot so that the veal browns fast and can be quickly removed without overcooking. I like mine on the rare side, so I really just give it a kiss of heat–about 30 seconds a side and it is usually perfect.
 

After the veal is cooked, deglaze the pan by adding the white wine (about a half cup) and stir to break up browned bits on the bottom of the pan. When wine has reduced by half, melt some butter and add capers to this, stirring so the butter doesn’t burn.
 

Reduce heat and stir in a little lemon juice, and then pour this sauce over the veal and serve.
 

 
Voila, a delish dish in minutes.
 

Here we served it with some nice pasta that the wife made, and our first night in Tuscany was complete:
 
Well, almost complete:
 

Here, The Eat'n Man enjoys some liquid dessert.
 
Until next time,
 
Arrivederci,
 
Chris