VEAL INVOLTINI

Meat & Poultry | September 9, 2015 | By

I like veal because I find it tenderer and easier to digest than beef.
I especially prefer it to beef when cooking for kids.
When I arrived in Switzerland I couldn’t figure out why the veal was not light pink colour but red.
I felt cheated as it looked like beef but I was obviously paying for veal.
I investigated and I found my answers in a TV show on the Swiss Ticino channel LA1.


The veal meat has a darker colour in accordance with a regulation introduced on September 2013 by the Swiss Confederation with the consensus of the Swiss Animal Protection.


The reason of the difference in the colour is: calves that are fed just milk and hay have a light rose meat, calves that are also fed corn, fodder and grass have darker pink-reddish flesh, and this is given by the presence of iron.
I didn’t know that a calf would be fed just milk and hay in order to keep his flesh whitish, and anemic. Furthermore a calf fed this way develop painful stomach ulcers because he can’t digest hay like a cow.
Well, I definitely prefer eating veal that comes from a calf that is grown in a healthy natural way.
In fact, apart from the colour, the tenderness and the flavour are the same!

You can watch the full reportage on LA1 starting at minute 41 at this link: Patti Chiari 5.10.2012
You can watch the difference between a healthy calf stomach and one with ulcers at minute 46.

If after this introduction you don’t want to eat veal anymore you can switch it with chicken.

For this recipe you will need one of those useful-but-forgotten tool called meat tenderizers.

Check this photo to see how to easily pound your cutlets:

 

VEAL INVOLTINI
Serves 4
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Prep Time
45 min
Cook Time
15 min
Total Time
1 min
Prep Time
45 min
Cook Time
15 min
Total Time
1 min
Ingredients
  1. 600g Veal cutlets / Kalbsschnitzel
  2. 100g Gruyère cheese
  3. 200g Bacon / Fruhstuckspeck
  4. Half glass white wine / Halb Glas Weißwein
  5. Rosemary and Thyme / Rosmarin und Thymian
  6. Sage /Salbei
  7. Extra Virgin Olive Oil / Olivenöl extra vergine
  8. Salt / Salz
  9. Toothpicks / Zahnstocher
Instructions
  1. Pound the cutlets to 3-4mm thick. If your butcher cuts them 1cm, slice them in two before pounding.
  2. Cut the cheese into slices 3mm thick.
  3. Put speck on top of the veal and top it all up with a slice of cheese.
  4. Roll. Put 1 leaf of sage on top.
  5. Close the roll with 3 toothpicks: 1 through the leaf and 2 at the two ends in order to close it (pull the edge a bit and lift it like you are wrapping a present, then use the toothpick)
  6. Heat 2 spoons of oil with the rosemary and thyme in a pan until they are soft but still green.
  7. Add the involtini rolls. Cook on medium-high heat until golden brown on the bottom.
  8. Turn them to the other side and after 2 minutes add white wine. Turn up the heat to high for two minutes until the wine is mostly evaporated.
  9. Cover with lid. Cook for another 5 minutes on low-medium heat.
Nonna Armida Love Family Food http://nonnarmida.ch/

 

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