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

I used to love summer, I didn't like the cold and the rain at all; I liked long days and the sun burning my skin... Now everything changed and I learned to recognize the enormous beauty of autumn.

Short days, long nights, the wet earth, the ocher and golden tones... And among millions of beautiful dry leaves, small and succulent beauties like the ones that today, together with the veal, are the protagonists of my recipe: the mushrooms.

The fricandó is a delicious dish of traditional Catalan cuisine in which the main ingredients are veal, which is used in fillets and mushrooms , which although traditionally senderuelas, can also be ceps (pumpkin mushroom in Spanish), oyster mushrooms or chanterelles

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

I have to say that I have composed the recipe that I show you a bit my way after having read a few and observing that although all of them were very similar, in some carrots and some other vegetable were added, in others the wine was replaced by brandy and a few other variations.

It is a perfect dish for autumn, cooked without haste, over a very slow heat and like almost all stews, it is highly recommended to make it the day before so that the flavors settle...

And well, for me the other very important thing is to have a large loaf of fresh bread to dip in its delicious sauce, if you listen to me, I assure you that you will smile!

Ingredients ( for 4 people)

• 800gr of veal fin cut into thin fillets
• 3 ripe tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 2 carrots
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• 300gr of chanterelles (if it is not the season for mushrooms, a good option is dehydrated senderuelas)
• A jar of assorted canned mushrooms
• 150ml of red wine
• Olive oil, salt and pepper and flour to coat the fillets

For the chopped almond

• A handful of toasted almonds
• a handful of parsley
• A garlic clove

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

Preparation

1. Season and flour the veal fillets and set aside.
2. On a wooden board , chop the onion and tomatoes. Cut the carrots into slices and if the chanterelles are very large, reserving the smaller ones whole.
3. Heat a splash of oil in our cocotte and fry the fillets in batches. Separate and reserve.
4. In the same oil in which we have fried the fillets, brown the onion until it softens. Add the chopped tomatoes, stir and let them lightly confit. Once ready, add the wine and let it reduce a bit.
5. Add the reserved fillets, the bay leaf, thyme, the sliced ​​carrots, the chanterelles, the preserved mushrooms to the cocotte and cover the mixture with water.
6. Put the lid on the cocotte and cook over a very low heat for about an hour and a half.
7. Meanwhile, prepare the picada. Put the almonds, parsley and garlic in a food processor along with a little 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 ceramic cocotte by Emile Henry

NOTE: I have used the Emile Henry ceramic cocotte . You can also prepare the recipe in an iron cocotte .