This recipe has got to be one of my husband’s absolute favorites and with good reason. He likes Chicken Parm a lot and that’s what I mostly make but every once in a while I will get veal cutlets and make this delicious meal and kick it back “old school” style. It’s classic comfort food for sure all gooey and delicious.

Firstly you’ll want to get your veal cutlets from a butcher and make sure they’re ready for frying. In NYC there are a lot of butchers and specialty stores to choose from so while I’m in town I make them. They also are rather pricy so saying all that you can also make this recipe with chicken. Veal is low in fat and high in protein and makes a great veal parmigiana. There are many variations but I am sort of a purist and like it with tomato sauce and cheese. Baked to perfection!

Last night this is what I did and served along side spaghetti.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 lb. Veal Slices ( Cutlets) pounded thin if you go to butcher tell them what you’re using them for

1 cup Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs– you may need a little more

4 Tablespoons of Grated Parmesan / Romano cheese and more for sprinkling cutlets

Olive Oil for frying

pasta of your choice but I like spaghetti with it

1 egg with a splash of milk

Spaghetti Sauce — whatever kind you have — obviously home made is great but I like Raos a lot and when I don’t have any homemade on hand that’s my go-to. The marinara one is perfect as is the Arabiata if you like it a little more spicy — app. 12 ounces of sauce for veal and spaghetti. If using a jar buy the 24 oz. and then you’ll have enough sauce for both veal and spaghetti. Use as much or as little as you like.

1/2 lb . mozzarella cheese , shredded

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Set up a breading station using 2 bowls. One bowl with egg and splash of milk beaten, and then one bowl with bread crumbs mixed with grated parmesan cheese (app. 3 Tablespoons of cheese and use the rest to sprinkle on cutlets)

I pat dry the veal cutlets before dipping into the egg and milk

Dip in the egg and then dip in the bread crumbs. Coat the veal completely. I place on a small cookie sheet and put in the refrigerator till I am ready to fry them . I find this holds bread crumbs in place best but obviously if you’re short on time just go right to the frying. I only put them in for about 1/2 hour but you can leave them in longer if you’d like .

I use a large skillet and add a good coating of oil to bottom of pan — enough to cover bottom of pan and enough for each cutlet to fry up — maybe 1/4″ to 1/2″ of oil. You do not submerge the cutlets in the oil just enough to fry them up. Pre heat the oil so it’s very hot when you add veal. Flame on pan should be medium-high depending on your stove top.

Pan fry both sides — I turn over gently to make sure they’re golden brown and then turn them . Do not over fry because they still need to bake in the oven. (see pics) you want them to be golden brown

Drain the fried cutlets on some paper towels blotting the tops for excess oil.

I spray a baking dish with cooking spray and add enough sauce to cover bottom of the baking dish and don’t be skimpy with it, you’ll probably use about 8 oz. of the sauce. I sprinkle with a little grated parmesan and then add shredded mozzarella to top .

Place in hot oven and I cooked covered (aluminum foil) for first 10 minutes , then 5 minutes uncovered and then put oven to broil for another 3-5 minutes till cheese gets a bit brown and bubbly. All ovens vary but this is what worked best for me to get that beautiful finish. You must keep an eye on it when under broiler . Mine was ready in about 3 minutes.

I cooked up some spaghetti added a little sauce to it and plated the veal and the spaghetti and dinner was served.

This was a delicious twist on chicken meatballs. The meatballs were so amazingly moist and tasty and I served over Jasmine Rice and it was just perfect. The original recipe is from Bon Appetit and I took a few liberties with it. We like spicy food so I used some Sriracha along with the ketchup — you can make this as spicy as you like or not spicy at all depending on how much or how little Sriracha you use or use none at all. If you’re in the mood for something a little different this one’s for you. We just love meatballs and we’ll eat them any which way. Have fun with this one. And you all know that my husband absolutely still refuses to eat broccoli so it was his loss because it was delicious.

*a little note I use my mini chopper to chop ginger and garlic and I use it for onions as well . It gets it finely minced. If you don’t have one of these mini choppers I highly recommend it’s use to get garlic, ginger and onions and other vegetables finely grated when recipe calls for that.

Enjoy!

Ingredients: Sauce

2/3 cup Ketchup — I decreased the ketchup and added about 1/3 Sriracha – and it was very spicy but we like very spicy . So please either keep it 2/3 of ketchup for totally not spicy or decrease a little ketchup and add a little Sriracha.

1/4 cup Worcestershire Sauce

2 Tbsp. Water

2 Tbsp. Honey

4 tsp. Soy Sauce

1/2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely grated

1 garlic clove — finely grated — see note above about finely grating

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Ingredients: Meatballs and Broccoli

app. 1 lb. of Broccoli — you just want florets so if you’re starting with a head of broccoli you’ll have to trim and cut etc. I just bought a 1 lb. package of broccoli florets available in most grocery stores these days. ( not frozen)

2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil divided — 1 for broccoli and 1 for Meatballs

2 1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt divided — 1 1/2 for Broccoli and 1 for Meatballs

* a pinch of Crushed red Pepper which is also optional

1 lb. ground chicken– I try to use 85/15 chicken the 90/10 tends to be very dry and really the best is ground dark meat if you can find it

1 large egg beaten to blend

4 scallions , thinly sliced

2 garlic cloved, finely grated

1 ” small piece of ginger , finely grated

1/3 cup Panko ( Japanese Breadcrumbs)

1 Tbsp. Sesame Oil — I use regular Sesame Oil but you can use Toasted as well

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Rice for Serving any kind you like , I used Jasmine this time but any kind will do

Directions:

Mix ketchup, Sriracha ( if you’re using) , Worcestershire Sauce, water, honey, soy sauce, grated ginger, and pepper in a small saucepan. I measured out about 1/4 cup mixture into a small bowl for glazing meatballs, later. Bring remaining mixture to a simmer over medium high heat stirring occasionally and reducing heat if necessary, let sauce thicken , about 5 minutes. Transfer sauce to a small bowl or leave in pan and remove from heat.

Meatball and Broccoli Assembly:

Place a rack in upper third of the oven; pre-heat to 450 degrees. I sprayed a sheet pan with cooking spray and lined it with aluminum foil. In a separate bowl I tossed florets with 1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil, 1 1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt, and a few pinches of crushed red pepper ( optional) I brushed the sheet pan with the remaining 1 Tbsp. of Vegetable Oil and then placed broccoli florets on the edges of the baking sheet to create space for my meatballs.

Mix chicken, egg, scallions, garlic, ginger, panko, sesame oil, pepper , 1 1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt, and 4 Tbsp. Water in a medium bowl and mixed all ingredients together till just combined — don’t overmix

Using wet hands form into 12 meatballs — Probably 2 inches apiece though I didn’t measure but I got 12 beautiful sized meatballs. Arrange on baking sheet; brush with some of the reserved glaze ( 1/4 cup) ( see photo) Bake until meatballs are cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven; heat broiler. Brush meatballs again with glazing mixture; broil until broccoli is charred and meatballs are browned in spots, app. 5 minutes but keep an eye on them. At the end of 5 minutes if you’re meatballs look ready but your broccoli isn’t charred enough, remove meatballs and continue to broil broccoli till it’s charred enough.

Spoon meatballs and broccoli over rice in a bowl. Drizzle with sauce and there you go!