Creamy Veal Stew

It must be at least 30 years since I last bought or knowingly ate veal.  It was at a time when there was a huge fuss in Australia about the conditions in which veal calves were being reared and the very short lives that they had.  I seem to recall that the last time I bought any I was more put off by the texture and lack of taste than the inhumane conditions the poor little calves were being kept in - but I resolved never to buy it again. And until last week, I didn't.

More recently, there has been a huge fuss in the UK about the fate of the redundant bull calves generated by the dairy industry.  The veal market in the UK vanished pretty much at the same time as the Australian one, which meant that calves were being shipped to mainland Europe and being treated in the traditional, inhumane way.  In the meantime, a more humane rose veal industry had been taken up in the UK - but largely ignored by consumers so calves were still going to France and Italy, leading extremely short lives, kept inside and existing on a milk diet to keep their flesh white. Rose veal, on the other hand, is grass fed outside to make the flesh pink.  (See what you learn listening to Farming Today on Radio 4 at the crack of dawn in the mornings!)

The more I thought about it, the more I thought we ought to try eating veal again.  After all, I eat yearling beef in Australia and I think rose veal is butchered at a pretty similar age.  Maybe a little younger but not much.  Then I found a pack of stewing veal pieces in Waitrose and decided to buy it.

Quite by coincidence, a day or two later River Cottage posted a link on Twitter to a Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall veal stew recipe which looked extremely tasty.  Here is my take on it:

I browned 250g of veal pieces in my lovely large frying pan, which I then deglazed with a splosh of bandy (what happens when you apply brandy to a pan over an open flame?  Hehehehe - flambeed deglazing!!).

Then I added a carton of pureed tomatoes, which I very lazily did not sieve first, and some crushed garlic.  I simmered the tomatoes until they had thickened and then, in the absence of chicken stock (turned it all into soup last weekend) I added a glass and a half of dry white wine.

I put back the veal and stirred in a carton of double cream and left it to simmer for about an hour and a half, stirringoccasionally.

I served it with mashed potato and steamed savoy cabbage and it was absolutely delicious. Might keep my eyes open for other veal cuts and play about with them. Although, I think The Builder is hopeful that I might reproduce the veal stew!