Nothing better on a cold winter’s night on Sunday to be enjoying such a comforting dish such as baked veal. Fennel are in season at the moment, and the flesh is crisp, sweet and tiny hint of aniseed. Inside a warm salad with breadcrumbs. melted anchovies and Parmesan, it is the perfect complement to the richness of the baked veal and bone marrow. The texture of the breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan acted a melodic overture to the main dish (where I had replaced the Parmesan with Romano instead).

Wines matched for the evening:
Duval-Leroy Brut Vintage 1996 – a beautiful champagne
Domaine Lucien et Andre Brunel 2003 Shiraz – with the veal

Fennel with capers and anchovies

2large fennel bulbs, green tops intact
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 anchovies
Handful of breadcrumbs, not too fine
Freshly cracked pepper
1/2 tbsp capers, rinsed well and patted dry
30g pecorino or parmesan cheese, shaved
1/4 cup young flat-leaf parsley
Salt and pepper

Trimfennel bulbs by discarding tough, external layers. Keep tender fronds fromheads and soak in cold water. Wash bulbs well and cut into thin slices top tobottom. Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and plunge in fennelslices. Blanch for 2 minutes until tender. Drain and set aside to cool.Meanwhile, heat olive oil gently in a saucepan and add anchovies, stirringuntil dissolved. Add breadcrumbs and a pinch of pepper. Stir for a minute, adddrained fennel slices and mix well. Take from heat and add capers, fennel tops,cheese and parsley. Season with salt and pepper, mix well and transfer to aserving plate. Serves 4

NB: I added microherbs into the mix – and also a handful of unblanched (and thinly diced – on the younger parts of the bulb) fennel for more texture.

Twice-cooked veal shanks withmushrooms and sage

2large veal shanks, trimmed of external fat
1 onion, peeled and quartered
1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 stick celery, roughly chopped
200g button mushrooms
2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and cut into chunks
50g butter
150ml cream
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
100g grated parmesan
Big handful fresh sage leaves
Salt and pepper

Placethe veal shanks in a stockpot with the onion, carrot and celery. Cover withwater and bring to the boil. Turn down to a simmer and keep simmering for 90-120 minutes until the meat is tender. Remove from the heat and cool theshanks in the liquid. Once cooled, drain liquid into a saucepan, removing anyfat on the surface, and discard vegetables. Turn the heat to high and reducethe liquid to about 400ml. Remove meat from shanks and cut into bite-sizedpieces (pic1). Fry mushrooms, onion, garlic in the butter until they have softened.Add the reduced stock and cream and simmer for 2 minutes (pic2). Pour the mushroommixture into an oven dish (pic3), with the meat scattered evenly throughout. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs, parmesan and sage on top (pic4) and bake at 170C for an hour (pic 5)
Serves 6.

The process:

Oh yes – that’s crumbed BONE MARROW! Dedicated to Derpderp and Bellisa. Oh it was sooo good.

I have to say, this is probably one of the best recipes ever! The prep time + cook time will take up half your Sunday (but I enjoy it!)

Like my post? Spread it like butter!