Veal chop, glazed with a veal stock and white wine reduction, served with a variety of simply prepared spring vegetables.

Cooked and raw vegetables mingle together to create different textures and flavors.

Happy spring!  We are finally having a seasonally appropriate week here in Jerz and I am more than happy about it.  I also received the first tomatoes of the new season yesterday.  They are local farm greenhouse tomatoes but they look and smell as they should and they are making me excited about all the produce coming in the near future!

I made this dish for a special occasion to celebrate a milestone with my wife and I wanted to make something that celebrated the season as well.  Veal is almost a perfect meat to go with spring vegetables as the milder flavor doesn’t overpower the more delicate flavors of the spring vegetables.  Here, fresh fava beans and peas take center stage.  The softer textures of those lightly blanched vegetables are balanced out with carrots and green onions that are just cooked through and thinly sliced raw radish adds color and a touch of spiciness.  The whole thing is brought together with just a touch of veal stock and white wine reduction drizzled over the top of the veal chop, creating an almost glaze like glisten and sheen that provides additional depths of flavor with a touch of acidity.

Both fava beans and peas are available right now fresh in the produce section of most grocery stores.  However, if you can’t find them, both can be found in the frozen food section as well.  Simply unthaw them and add them at the end…no need to cook them as they are blanched and then frozen.  So, as long as they are thawed, just toss them in the pan at the end to warm them through for a few seconds.

I found the microgreens used as a garnish at Wegman’s market.  If you can’t find them at your store, chopped Italian parsley would work well too.

The veal chop pictured is pretty large and can easily feed two.  If you have your butcher cut them thick, plan on one chop per two people or adjust as needed.  Recipe and another picture follows after the jump… Continue reading →