So easy, so tasty

Premise

If you have not guessed it yet, I am going to tell you a secret: I am the designated chef at home! 

Surprised?  Yeah, sure!

Home is my wonderful family: my wife Pauline, my daughters Lea and Alessia, my son Marcus, my son-in-law Aldo.  Lea and Aldo actually have their own house two blocks from us, but they often drop in for dinner.  However, most of the time I cook just for the four of us.  What’s that got to do with the price of prosciutto?  It means that, unless otherwise specified, the recipes in this book/blog are for four people.  Simple as that!  It saves me time and space.  It also means that all I propose to you has already been ‘experimented’ on my human cavia and they are all the better for it.  No one has left home yet, on the contrary, like omnivorous boomerangs, they keep coming back for more food.  Who needs five stars from the “Michelin Guide” when I can get five boomies from my family!

I am going to suggest to you one of our favourite dishes: Saltimbocca alla romana - Saltimbocca Roman style.  Saltimbocca means ‘jump in mouth’.  Why such a strange name for a dish?  Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?  The veal done in this way is so delicious that it ‘jumps’ in your mouth on its own will! And, it is also simple and quick to prepare.  Beware the cheap imitations you find in some ‘restaurant’, however.   I speak from experience.  It was one of my first tastes of “Italian” cuisine in Melbourne, 1 and ½ billion years ago.  I was invited to lunch in a restaurant downtown – whose name I will not reveal, not even under duress!  My delight to find my favourite dish on the menu soon turned into desperation when I tasted it!  The fact that this restaurant is still operating is one of the world’s seven wonders, along with the Colosseum, the Chinese Wall, the Hanging Gardens and other regalia.

Enough of that!  Back to business.    Here is the recipe.

Ingredients (*)
4 veal slices, pounded and dusted in flour
4 slices of  prosciutto
8 sage leaves

toothpicks

Olive oil

1/2 glass white win e
butter
salt and  pepper

When you have pounded and dusted the veal, place on each piece 1 slice of prosciutto and 2 small sage leaves.  Fasten every ‘parcel’ with a toothpick.  Put some oil in a frying pan.  When it’s hot, place the veal in it with the prosciutto facing down.  Ground in some salt and pepper, let the veal brown and then turn it on the other side.

When cooked, place the veal parcels on a warm plate; deglaze the ‘scraps’ in the pan with the wine and some butter; adjust the seasoning  and pour the sauce on the veal.  Serve immediately.

(*)  The secret of this simple recipe, like with most Italian dishes, lies in the freshness and quality of the ingredients.  Ask for the pinkest veal; look for the best prosciutto – imported San Daniele is the ideal but a good Parma will do – As per the sage, use the fresh-from-your-garden variety and if you do not have a herbarium, ask a friend who does or buy it at the greengrocer: it is worth the extra 2 bob.  And do not be a scrooge with the wine either.

(Saltimbocca alla romana, ready to be cooked) 

Remember “A Roma se magna bene” (you eat well, in Rome)