Ask Chef Phyllis:
We live in a warm climate nine months of the year, but summertime we grill outdoors for sure and maybe dine inside when it’s humid. We tried your Chicken Breast Cacciatore 30-minute recipe for a quick, easy, elegant dinner with great results. I am ready for the second entrée to add to my collection. We chose a robust red wine to use in your recipe, and we also drank it with the dinner. That made it quite special. Any ideas for a quick dinner but this time with a white wine you could suggest?
–Dorothea Stubel from Marietta, Georgia
Thank you for your request for a second 30-minute meal. It’s so refreshing to hear that so many people want elegant dinners during the week, when prep time is almost nonexistent. My husband likes to say, “Find a need and fill it.” This has inspired me to find easier ways to achieve great tastes in a shorter time. I like the challenge.
Wine is often used as a catalyst that can enhance flavor like nothing else. To me, it’s an oh-so-pleasant factor in making a meal memorable. This recipe is a new warm weather take on an old cold weather standard, Osso Buco. Traditionally, this dish consists of veal shanks slow cooked with wine and gremolata for hours, but it’s reinvented here for the grill. This gourmet main course is a modern classic, perfect for warm summer evenings on the patio. I recommend serving it with either a dry white wine such as a Pinot gris from Oregon or an Italian Vernaccia di San Gimignano. But if you have a favorite dry white wine, please choose it. And above all, enjoy the ease this new twist on an old favorite brings to the table.
Milanese Style Veal Chops
Pair this dish with your favorite white wine. It’s delicious served with a dark green romaine or dandelion salad topped with organic grape tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, then drizzled with some extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice.
Ingredients
For the gremolata:
3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian flat leaf parsley
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel (yellow zest only)
1 tablespoon orange zest, white part of the peel excluded
1½ teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon minced garlic
For the veal chops:
4 rib or loin veal chops (about 8 oz. each), marinated for a few hours if possible, or 8 rib or loin lamb chops
½ cup olive oil
½ cup dry white wine
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
⅓ cup chopped fresh Italian flat leaf parsley
3 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
3 large organic lemons, halved, for grilling and garnish (I used Meyer lemons)
Honey (optional)
Instructions
- Combine all gremolata ingredients in a bowl. Reserve until the veal chops are cooked.
- Place veal chops in a 13x9x2-inch baking dish. In a small bowl, mix olive oil, white wine, lemon juice, parsley, garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Pour this mixture all over the chops, turning them over and coating both sides well. If you cannot marinate the chops for a few hours or overnight, cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
- Heat the grill to medium-high. Remove chops from marinade and grill until cooked to desired doneness, about 6 minutes per side for medium rare or 8 minutes per side for medium.
- If desired, brush the halved lemons with a little olive oil and honey. Grill cut side down for 3 minutes. Transfer chops to a serving platter or individual plates. Evenly top each chop with gremolata. Garnish with grilled lemons.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
To choose your organically grown and fresh ingredients wisely, use the following criteria:
- chemical- and hormone-free meat
- wild-caught fish
- pasture-raised, organic eggs
- whole, unrefined grains
- virgin, unrefined, first-press organic oils
- whole-food, unrefined sweeteners
- pure, clean, spring water
- sea salt
- raw and/or cultured milk and cream products
Photo Credit: stu_spivack
Phyllis Quinn is a chef, food writer, and founder of Udderly Cultured, a class that teaches how to make homemade fresh mozzarella, butter, yogurt, cottage cheese, and other cultured products. Private lessons are available. For a reservation, call Phyllis at 970-221-5556 or email her at phyllisquinn2@gmail.com. Rediscover nearly lost cooking methods and get one-of-a-kind recipes in her books The Slow Cook Gourmet and Udderly Cultured: The Art of Milk Fermentation.
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I know that veal chops are sometimes hard to find. Try this easy version of ‘Ossobuco con Gremalata’ with lamb chops too. I know this will become one of your summertime favorites.