Weekend Cooking- Veal Stew with Pear Salad

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December is always such a blur, with so many things to get accomplished. I had to purchase and wrap close to 100 gifts, write out 80 Christmas cards, decorate the house, plus my hours spent volunteering at the Book Cellar, a new and used bookstore at my local branch of the New York Public Library (which I love!)

Then we spent a long weekend in Longboat Key, Florida at our new vacation home, and I went home with my sons for a few days before Christmas to visit my family five hours away. Add in there the myriad Christmas parties that we had to attend for my husband's work and we were not home many nights in December, resulting in my not cooking dinner most of the month.

Now that we are in solidly in January, I'm glad to be getting back in the swing of cooking, although I feel like I am out of practice. And when I get out of practice, the first few meals back are not usually my best.

The Book Cellar is closed on Fridays, so I made a conscious effort to work really hard on making a good meal. I turned to one of my husband's favorites, Veal Stew and added one of my favorites, Mesclun Salad with Roasted Pears.

I had my butcher at Agata and Valentina cube up some really good veal cutlets for the stew, which makes a big difference. The stew takes about two hours total to prepare, so I popped on some music from the Monkees and began the prep work. I'm not sure where I got the recipe from, I've had it so long, but here it is:

Veal Stew- serves 6
1 1/12 lbs veal cubes
4 slices of bacon
16 oz. beef broth
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
16 oz. can stewed tomatoes (I use diced)
6 oz. sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup flour
salt and pepper to taste
3 egg yolks
 2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Directions: Fry bacon. Remove and add veal cubes to brown. Remove veal, add garlic and onion to pan and fry until tender. Sprinkle veal with flour, salt and pepper in a casserole dish.  Add the beef broth, onions and garlic to the veal. Cook in a 350 degree oven for 1 to 1 -1/2 hours.
Mix egg yolks and lemon juice. Take broth from the stew 1 Tbsp. at a time and add to the egg yolks, stirring after each addition (4-5 Tbsp.) Add egg yolks and mushrooms to casserole and cook through. Serve over rice or noodles.

Pear Salad

Mesclun Salad with Roasted Pears- serves 8
3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
4 large Bosc pears (2 lbs), peeled, cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
Dressing:
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1 Tbsp. finely minced shallots
2 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1/2 cup olive oil

2 bags mesclun salad
6 oz. crumbled blue cheese

Directions:
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line jelly roll pan with foil. Arrange pear slices on pan, brush each side with 2 Tbsp. olive oil. Combine salt and pepper, sprinkle evenly over slices. Roast 30 minutes until edges are brown. (Keep a close eye so as not to burn the slices.)
Dressing: Whisk together vinegar, shallots, honey, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in oil. Arrange greens on plates, add pear slices and blue cheese. Top with dressing.

Dinner was a big hit, and there were enough leftovers for lunch the next day. Let's hope there are more good meals ahead- at least that's my husband's wish.