Veal Fricandó

Today's recipe is a classic you can't miss! Juana Guindilla, author of The Kitchen of Babel, brings us the traditional veal fricandó recipe, accompanied by some delicious mushrooms and prepared in a casserole. A perfect recipe for weekends and family celebrations. You'll love it!

I used to adore summer; I couldn’t stand the cold and the rain. I loved the long days and the sun burning my skin… Now everything has changed, and I’ve learned to recognize the immense beauty of autumn.

Short days, long nights, damp earth, ochre and golden tones... And among millions of beautiful dry leaves, small, succulent beauties that today, along with the veal, take center stage in my recipe: mushrooms.

Fricandó is a delicious dish from traditional Catalan cuisine in which the main ingredients are veal, prepared as cutlets, and mushrooms, which, although traditionally they are fairy ring mushrooms, can also be porcini (pumpkin mushroom in Spanish), oyster mushrooms, or saffron milk caps.

It is one of the few dishes in traditional Catalan cuisine that is made with beef, and its origin seems to date back to the medieval era.

I have to say that the recipe I’m showing you is put together a bit in my own way after reading quite a few and noticing that, although they were all very similar, some included carrot and another vegetable or two, in others the wine was swapped for brandy, and there were a few other variations.

It is a perfect dish for autumn, cooked unhurriedly, over very low heat and, like almost all stews, highly recommended to do it the day before so the flavors can meld…

Well, for me, another very important thing is having a big loaf of fresh bread to dip in its delicious sauce. If you take my advice, I promise you'll smile!

Ingredients (for 4 people)

• 800gr of veal flank cut into thin slices
• 3 ripe tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 2 carrots
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• 300gr of saffron milk caps (if it's not mushroom season, a good option is dried fairy ring mushrooms)
• A jar of assorted preserved mushrooms
• 150ml of red wine
• Olive oil, salt and pepper, and flour for dredging the fillets

For the chopped almond

• A handful of roasted almonds
• A small handful of parsley
• A clove of garlic

Acacia wood board with T&G handle and Emile Henry ceramic casserole

Preparation

1. Season the veal fillets with salt and pepper, coat in flour, and set aside.
2. In a wooden board, chop the onion and tomatoes. Slice the carrots and, if the saffron milk caps are very large, slice them too, keeping the smaller ones whole.
3. Heat a drizzle of oil in our casserole and fry the fillets in batches. Set aside and reserve.
4. In the same oil in which we fried the steaks, brown the onion until softened. Add the chopped tomatoes, stir, and let them cook down slightly. Once ready, add the wine and let it reduce a little.
5. Add to the casserole the reserved fillets, bay leaf, thyme, sliced carrots, saffron milk caps, canned mushrooms, and cover the Set with water.
6. Put the lid on the casserole and cook over very low heat for about an hour and a half.
7. Meanwhile, prepare the picada. Add the almonds, parsley, and garlic in a robot kitchen along with a little of the cooking liquid. Add to the stew shortly before turning off the heat, stir, and continue cooking for a few more minutes.

Acacia wood board with T&G handle and Emile Henry ceramic casserole

NOTE: I have used the Emile Henry ceramic casserole. You can also prepare the recipe in a cast iron casserole.