Veal Rolls With Marsala, Pistachios & Arugula

 

While waiting for my turn to order at the butcher's, I scanned the prepared meat on display. I spotted a batch of beautifully assembled skewered meat with very green veggies, cheese & breadcrumbs.  Upon closer look, I saw that the veggies were arugula.  The spiraled arugula & veal inspired me to make some veal rolls of my own.  I added some unplanned veal to my list and asked the butcher to slice them as thinly as possible.  Doing my mental checklist, I have fresh arugula at home & pistachios to replace the bland breadcrumbs.

I messed up the first batch of rolls that I did because I cooked them too long in the oven that they burned to crisps and the cheese leaked all over the baking dish. A veritable disaster!   It's because I was trying to do a million things all at the same time!  It's a good thing I cooked something else for the kids or everyone would have been banging their forks on the table demanding for food.  

Not to be discouraged easily, I did another batch of rolls the following day, this time cooked on the stove. I compensated the mistakes I did. With hindsight, we do things better afterwards.  

Having just bought a new food chopper, I tried it out with the pistachios cautiously.  I destroyed my old one because I chopped some macadamia nuts and destroyed the blade in the process. I had been using the coffee bean grinder after that but the consistency was too powdery.   

This recipe is easy.  The only time & effort consuming part is the tying of the rolls.  If you don't have the patience to do it, just secure them with food sticks.  I tied them to attain an even cooking all around the meat.  

If eaten immediately, these meat rolls are delectable.  If you need to reheat them, put them back in the pan with some oil, pour some Marsala wine, let evaporate & serve warm. 

Veal Rolls With Marsala, Pistachios & Arugula

Ingredients:

Serves 2

• 8 thin veal slices of about 15 cm. long, tenderized with a meat tenderizer mallet
• pistachios, crushed
• a handful of arugula, chopped coarsely
• 8 thin Gruyere slices or any similar individual sandwich cheese slices you can buy
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 1/4 cup Marsala wine 

Directions:

Slice away sides of tenderized veal to attain regular rectangular shapes.  Set aside the strips of meat taken away for another dish.

 Lay a slice of veal on a plate.  Cover with ground pistachios then a slice of cheese.  Make sure the cheese is a little smaller than the meat.  If it goes out of the meat, slice it away.  Sprinkle with chopped arugula.  Roll & secure with a food string or a stick.   Do the same process with the other ingredients.

 

Roll again on ground pistachios.   Sautè the rolls in saucepan with some extra virgin olive oil.  Brown all over on medium flame.  Season with salt & pepper.  Pour the Marsala wine & let the alcohol evaporate on high flame.  Put it down once again when the sauce becomes to thicken & diminish.  Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil & serve.