Globecooking recipe : Veal Milanese with sage and sweet & sour onions (Italy)

Personally, I love the really exotic Kitchen Trotter boxes, from far-flung locations in Africa and Asia that I've got absolutely no idea about, but the Madhouse kids understandably feel more at home with the slightly more local destinations, such as Italy which was the July kit. This recipe was a family-friendly crowd-pleaser and it was quick and simple to throw together too. We never usually buy veal, so my first instinct was to make it with chicken, but it made a nice change so I'm glad we splashed out.

The recipe called for two ingredients from the Italian-themed Kitchen Trotter box - the pot of semi-dry sage and the bottle of balsamic vinegar cream with white truffles. I don't usually like the taste of truffle but this just had a mild vinegar flavour that blended perfectly with the sugar and onions.

Veal Milanese with sage and sweet & sour onions

for the onions :

5tbsp balsamic vinegar cream with white truffles

500g baby onions

2tbsp sugar

1 glass hot water

30g butter

for the veal :

3 pinches of semi-dry sage

6 veal cutlets

50g flour

3 eggs

50g dried breadbrumbs

30g parmesan

salt, pepper

100g butter

2tbsp olive oil

Set up a work station with three shallow bowls. In the first, mix the flour, salt and pepper. In the second, beat the eggs. In the third, mix the breadcrumbs, sage and parmesan. Dip each cutlet in each dish in order, on both sides, pressing firmly into the final dish so that the breadcrumb coating sticks to the meat.

Traditionally, you should use baby onions but I only had big ones so I chopped them into fairly large slices.

Melt the butter then gradually add the sugar. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, then add the balsamic vinegar cream and simmer for a couple of minutes so that it reduces.

Add the onions and pour over the hot water. Cook on a low heat for half an hour, stirring from time to time and adding extra water if they start to stick to the bottom of the pan.

When the sauce has reduced and the onions have caramelised and taken on a dark brown hue, you can turn off the heat and leave them to rest.

Heat the butter and the oil in a large frying pan and when it starts to froth, gently lay the cutlets in the pan.

Cook for about 5 minutes on each side (depending on thickness) until the meat is cooked through.

Serve with rice or mash, salad or a vegetable (I chopped up some multicoloured cherry tomatoes) and the sweet & sour onions, which can be eaten hot, cold or warm.

Fancy trying some more Italian cuisine? How about Courgettes Involtini, Zuppa di Orzo, Chicken Breast with Pine Nuts & Parmesan, Crostata, Parmesan Crusted Risotto Balls or Sicilian Salad ? 

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