July 17, 2012 Dinner – Veal Stroganoff with Spaghetti

        Another night with no prior plan for dinner.  At around 6:30 p.m. we started to put together a dinner plan.  Suzette had bought fresh oyster and button mushrooms at Ta Lin and so we decided to thaw out a lb. of veal stew meat and make stroganoff. 

1 lb. veal stew meat (Alpine Sausage Kitchen $6.99/lb.) in ½ inch cubes

2 Tbsp. olive oil and 2 Tbsp. butter

½ medium red onion, diced

5 cloves of fresh garlic, minced finely

¼ cup sour cream (crema sin sal from Pro’s Market)

¼  cup of heavy cream

¼ cup of Chicken stock

¼ cup of white wine (Chardonnay)

1/3 cup of sliced oyster mushrooms

1/3 cup of button mushrooms

1 medium tomato, chopped.

6 large Italian basil leaves, sliced thinly

5 leaves of sage, sliced thinly

Salt and pepper to taste

1 lb. PPI Spaghetti

The veal stew meat was end cuts, so many pieces had silver skin and tendons in them and had to be butchered to remove those unpleasant bits from the meat.  I did that and then diced the onion and minced the garlic and diced the tomato as Suzette chopped the mushrooms.

After we both diced and chopped the ingredients, Suzette first sautéed the veal with the onions and garlic in 1 Tbsp. each of butter and olive oil in a large skillet and then added all the other ingredients to the skillet while I heated the spaghetti in the microwave and went to the garden to pick the herbs and then slice them.  When the stroganoff had cooked for about fifteen minutes and the sauce thickened somewhat, I went to the fridge in the basement to fetch a bottle of wine.  We did not have a chilled bottle of Austrian white, so I selected a California Gnarly Head 2010 Pinot Grigio.
We then plated the pasta in large pasta bowls and spooned the stroganoff mixture over the pasta and garnished the plates with the sliced fresh herbs.  The sage was a little tough until the heat of the sauce cooked it a bit and softened it, but the fresh basil was lovely.
The wine had that slightly musty California grape aftertaste, but also that slightly fruity brightness that is common to Pinot Grigio.  The wine well suited the dish well and was probably the closest choice we had to an Austrian white. 

For dessert I had Rocky Road ice cream with the last of last year’s fruit cake with whip cream and a dossing of rum and orange liquor. Suzette had fresh green figs stuffed with goat cheese and a dossing of Balsamic Vinegar.

Bon Appétit