BRAISED VEAL WITH CARROTS 

A piece of meat cooked slowly in a covered dish. The stew with carrots is a dish that takes me back to my childhood because my grandmother used to cook it. I find it very suitable for a Sunday family lunch when you have more time to take care of a recipe: it is not difficult but you have to check the rather long cooking. Prolonged cooking will make the meat extremely tender; Chunks of carrots will make it a healthy dish and the scent of bay leafs will make it special.

On Sundays I have more time to be in the kitchen... and more desire.

Sunday lunch is something beautiful and rewarding, to be enjoyed and savored together, calmly, without problems of time and clock... We chat, joke or discuss, but we are happy to be around a table to savor the food and the desire to be with family. With the weekly rhythms of school and work, I try to cultivate the gathering with love, even cooking dishes that make my diners happy.

To make a good braised veal the most important thing is to have a nice piece of tender meat, not too fat, but not too lean, otherwise it dries too much. The cooking of the braised meat is typically over low heat, and prolonged and requires cooking liquids. Fundamental is the type of wine to be used that must be full-bodied. Barolo would be excellent but given the high cost it can be easily replaced with a good red wine. To make the braised meat even tastier, you will need to add the right vegetables, onions, carrots, celery along with a mix of herbs and spices. I recommend abounding with carrots, cut into chunks not too thin, they will be an excellent side dish. Let's see together how to prepare the braised veal.

Ingredients for 6 people

1 1/2 Kg. braised meat

oil

butter

salt and pepper

wine

1 1/2 Kg. carrots

bay leaves

Preparation

As with all roasts, rub the meat with salt before cooking. Put it in a pan or in a crock pan with oil and brown it; Then sprinkle with wine. Add a piece of butter and cook slowly adding water from time to time, each time it begins to stick, and each time turn the piece of meat and scratch the bottom with a fork after pouring more water so as to obtain a nice golden stock. Meanwhile, prepare the carrots: cut them into sticks as if they were pieces of about cm. 5 in length and cm. 1 thick. Cook the meat at least 2 hours (it must be tender). At this point add the carrots, salt and pepper and several bay leaves. The scent of bay leaves gives a particular note to this stew. If necessary, add a little oil and butter. As soon as the carrots turn out to be tender, it is ready. Cut into slices and serve.

Note

I usually accompany it with slices of fried polenta, which is always delicious together with a braised meat, and makes the stew with carrots a complete single dish. The meat is better cut if cold so if you want you can prepare the braised meat a little earlier, cool, cut arrange on a baking dish and sprinkle with the hot cooking stock bottom. A simple, homemade recipe with an exquisite flavor!