Veal on a skewer - old-fashioned
Lucky dip time - and I'm sitting here wondering where to start. I spent a little time wondering which recipe to choose - there were six on a double page spread of veal recipes, but then I noticed that there was a photograph of one of them, on a different page, so I decided to go with that - Spiedini di vitello alla Romana.
And here it is photographed in a way that somehow looks old-fashioned. But what is it that makes it look old-fashioned? Maybe it's the faint yellowish cast to the whole thing. Surely it's not the dish which could be from any ceramic collection? There's a glimpse of silver cutlery and the glasses look somewhat retro - but retro is in, although in a slightly different guise. Cut glass seems to be the current trend.
You may be able to guess it's a Robert Carrier recipe from the retro look, but it could just as easily be anything from that time. 1965 to be precise. The book is this volume from a small set of books that were published at that time - this one being Great Main Dishes, and I'm guessing it's fundamentally a selection of recipes from his two early books - Great Dishes of the World and The Robert Carrier Cookbook - because he had a tendency to repeat some recipes from book to book.
But don't be put off by the old-fashioned look. His recipes are almost always worth a try, and mostly not that complicated.
I could very easily give every one of those six recipes - well not the one for sweetbreads - a try. Although probably not with veal.
For veal is hard to find in Australia these days. Why? Well it's a combination of economics and ethics. In economic terms really young veal is a by-product of dairy farming. What dairy farmer wants a male calf? And so these days male calves of just a few days old are sent to slaughter. Which, of course, brings one to the ethics. First the animal rights people, and then most of us were appalled at the idea, and so did not buy it. Although we eat lamb don't we? Besides it's a waste of a surely valuable resource. The RSPCA has a lengthy and very informative page that discusses all the ins and outs of this if you want to be simultaneously informed and horrified. Why can't they just be reared for beef you might ask? Well - different breed of cow with different qualities and dairy cattle are designed for milk production not meat.
You used to be able to buy something called veal in the supermarket - but it wasn't really veal - it was young beef. You could tell by the colour - more red than pink. In Europe there is still veal, but we probably don't really want to know about the production methods there.
And so - substitute pork - or maybe chicken. For this recipe anyway. For some of the other recipes on the page - maybe beef or lamb.
When I searched for Spiedini di vitello alla Romana I found nothing - just lots of recipes for Saltimbocca or Involtini - that classic Roman dish of thin slices of veal laid on a slice of pancetta or prosciutto, topped with a sage leaf, rolled up and held together with a toothpick, then sautéed. When I searched for saltimbocca spiedini or skewers many more appeared. So it seems that Robert Carrier has just changed the name slightly but kept the concept.
What he does is roll his prosciutto wrapped slice of veal around a seasoned slice of Gruyère or Parmesan. This is then threaded on to skewers, alternating with cubes of bread. No sage. However he doesn't grill or bake his skewers. He sautés them in butter and a tiny bit of olive oil. When almost cooked some vermouth or white wine is added to the pan before serving over saffron rice or shredded lettuce. So simple. So inviting.
Having established the idea of the saltimbocca skewer I went looking again, and found many more - mostly for pork.
These Pork bread and bay skewers with fennel are from Rachel Roddy whom I am featuring first because she arrived at this recipe via one from Elizabeth David - a contemporary of Robert Carrier's, telling us that she had been attracted by Elizabeth David's first words in introducing her recipe:
“'This is an ingenious little recipe.'” Ingenious is a clever word in recipe headings, promising not only something brilliant, but something that will make you feel brilliant and ingenious." Rachel Roddy
So true. And then she goes on to say that:
"The ingenious thing about this recipe, and therefore you, is the way the pork and bread cubes work together: the pork juices and fat seep into the bread, which, under the grill, turns golden and crisp on the outside, but goes custardy in the middle (rather like bread pudding)."
Inspired by Elizabeth David she constructs her skewers with pork, bread and bay leaves, and then grills them sitting on a bed of sliced fennel which has been partly cooked in the oven in olive oil.
"The simplicity of the ingredients makes the charm of this little dish, as indeed it does of most skewer-grilled food" says Elizabeth David and the simplicity aspect is certainly true of the other three saltimbocca skewers that I found: Veal saltimbocca skewers - delicious.; Spiedini saltimbocca alla Romana - Simone Butt/Ricette in TV - although this one is in Italian and Maple Dijon saltimbocca skewers/Foodland Ontario.
Although I have just noticed that none of these involve the bread which, to my mind is a really good thing. Elizabeth David threads her cubes of pork alternately with cubes of bread, and pieces of bacon, sprinkles with olive oil and then grills them. So maybe we've become a bit too fancy these days.
So next time you have a barbecue give the oldies a go.
YEARS GONE BY
September 1 - our May Day - the first day of Spring
2022 - Ajo blanco - I'm confused
2021 - Missing
2020 - Missing
2019 - It's never the same
2018 - Nothing
2017 - I walk, therefore I think
2016 - Why are Tim Tams Australian?
60 year old skewered veal dishes have a slightly dusty sound to them, which is not reflected in the dishes themselves. Viva Romana is all I can say! 👍