CHOP, CHOP, IT’S FRENCH FRIDAYS with DORIE (VEAL CHOPS)
Never underestimate the healing power of nature. Throw in a 12-ounce veal chop smothered in rosemary butter … and you’re golden. Joie de vivre on steroids. This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe choice is Veal Chops with Rosemary Butter, a hearty lunch for a chilly September Sunday.
A 12-ounce Veal Chop
The first of September is always my personal New Year’s Day. Hold the champagne but spike the cider. If I choose to banish New Year’s Eve totally and celebrate September 1st as the official day of renewal and fresh beginnings, I suggest that it’s about time. Dorie’s version of Veal Chops with Rosemary Butter was the perfect dish for a September New Year’s Day feast.
My initial knee jerk reaction to this week’s recipe was “ewww!” Visions of cuddly calves confined to crates danced in my head. The good news is our USDA now discourages this cruel, inhumane method. Talk to your butcher and source your veal.
This week’s recipe is quick and easy, pan-roasted chops flavored with a white-wine/chicken broth mix and a generous dollop of rosemary butter. For a taste-you-can-believe-in, season the chops a day in advance. Rosemary butter may already be a staple in your freezer but, if not, it’s simple to make. I picked up Olathe corn and Colorado peaches at our Saturday Farmers Market to complete my plate. Auld Lang Syne and Happy New Year!
In the spirit of new beginnings, it was time to finally bring order to my tiny kitchen. Admittedly, I’ve been living in blissful disarray for these past few months. It was either enjoy my first summer back in the Rockies or continue unpacking, organizing and playing Martha Stewart. There really wasn’t a choice.
It’s not pretty. It’s my kitchen.
But now it’s September and my friend, Judy, a brilliant cook with a small, very organized kitchen, grew weary of my incessant whining. “This kitchen space just has me flummoxed,” I would tell her. Over and over and over again.
Judy is re-thinking our Friendship.
Finally we made a deal. If I unpacked all my kitchen equipment, dishes, utensils, pots and pans, she would spend a Saturday to bring order to my kitchen and pantry. In a flash I made friends with my storage unit again, unpacking boxes, loading my car with kitchen essentials, hauling them to my condo and praying Judy would not forget our date. (I called every day to remind her.)
I hung out by the counter. Sorta supervising.
What can I say about last Saturday. I love this woman. She arrived with her label maker, storage bottles and croissants. It took her only four hours to accomplish what I hadn’t in five months. (I admit to drinking coffee, munching on my croissant and being grateful.) My kitchen “works” in ways I never could have imagined. My pantry closets are expertly shelved. Each item has its place. Even the spices are labeled and in alphabetical order. Seriously?
Judy labeled each spice jar and placed them in the IKEA cart, A to Z. (The IKEA cart arrived in 2,500 pieces with the directions in Swedish. Don’t ask.)
“Now, Mary,” she cautioned, more than once,“the secret to a small kitchen is to return everything exactly to it’s place.”
What are the odds, do you think, that I can keep those spice jars soldiered up correctly from A to Z? There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell ……………..
Veal Chops with Rosemary Butter is this week’s recipe assignment for French Fridays with Dorie, a group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s amazing “Around My French Table”. To visit the other blogs of my colleagues who are cooking the book, go here.
A genuine Aspen Rainbow compliments of Mother Nature