Braised Breast of Veal with Yellow Corn Polenta Cakes, Glazed Vegetables & Sweet Garlic

Okay, so I need to start this post with a shout-out to my boy Pedro at Los Paisanos Meat Market in Brooklyn for helping me to procure this veal breast and making my life very easy.

Readers, meet a six pound veal breast, rib bones and all:


This may not seem like a big deal, but it actually took some work to be able to get this cut of meat. The breast on a veal is not very desirable as it is very tough and takes hours of cooking to make it tender.... which is exactly what I planned on doing! :)

The first step in this process was to sear the breast on both sides in a pot large enough to hold not only the meat but also all of the vegetables, braising liquid, etc. I heated up some canola oil until it was hot and then seared the meat until it was nice and golden brown:


Then, I removed the meat from the pan, drained the excess oil, and sauteed the mirepoix of onions, carrots and a leeks, along with some garlic, thyme and a bay leaf:


Once the vegetables were tender and slightly caramelized, I put the meat back into the pot and added the braising liquid - a mixture of chicken and veal stock. Then, the entire pot went into the oven, its home for at least the next four hours:


hehe.

When the veal was finished cooking it was so tender that I could easily slip all of the rib bones out - it looked like this:


I removed the meat from the cartilage and put it between two pieces of parchment paper and into the fridge. I weighted it with a big 2-gallon jug of water to flatten it out - you'll see why later! I also strained the braising juice and lightly simmered it down to create a concentrated sauce for the veal. I added some shallots and of course some butter (!!) to the sauce and set it aside for the end...

The next step was to make the polenta. I boiled some water, chicken stock and minced garlic in a saucepan, added the polenta, and cooked it for about 20 minutes until it was thick and creamy. Then, I added butter, mascarpone cheese, chives, and salt and pepper to taste. The mixture was then spread in a 9x13 baking dish....

... covered with saran wrap, and put in the fridge to set. As the polenta cools, it goes from being a thick "mush" to a solid mass.

While my polenta was setting, it was time to deal with the vegetables. This recipe called for beets, turnips and carrots to be cut in different ways. The carrots were cut into small batons, the beets were scooped by the tiniest melon-baller ever, and the turnips were scooped with a fluted oblong vegetable scooper. Are you still with me?

Then, each vegetable was blanched separately until they were tender, quickly cooled in an ice bath, and set aside to drain. Once they were drained, they were sauteed in a pan until lightly golden. Then, I added some butter and chives and set the pan aside for later.

The next step was to make the sweet garlic. The whole garlic cloves were blanched not once, not twice, but three times. Then, I added some butter and a pinch of sugar to a pan and sauteed the garlic until golden brown:

Time for the home stretch!! I took the veal and the polenta out of the fridge and cut them with a 2" round cutter into seven equal rounds each. The polenta got a light dusting of flour, and the veal got rubbed lightly with dijon mustard and dredged in panko breadcrumbs. Then, I heated two pans side-by-side and sauteed the polenta in one and the veal in the other until each were golden brown on both sides:




Once they were done, I drained the veal and the polenta on paper towels briefly while began to plate the dish. First up was the sauce that I made earlier... then a piece of polenta, a piece of veal on top of that, and finally the glazed vegetables and sweet garlic. The finished product(s):



!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's just say that this dish was more than worth the cooking time, ridiculous number of steps, and effort to procure the meat. The veal was crispy on the outside and juicy in the middle and the polenta was to die for (there was even some left over ;) ).....

Next up - something fishy!

Sources:
Meat - Los Paisanos, Brooklyn, NY
Grocery - MET, Brooklyn, NY
Produce - Trader Joes, Brooklyn, NY