Harold J. Bigley of New York, New York, writes: "A few months ago I went to a party in The Hamptons catered by Loaves & Fishes in Sagaponack. The veal chops with polenta were outstanding. Could you get the recipe?"
Ask your butcher to french (trim the fat from) the bone end of the veal rib chops.
Ingredients
Makes 4 servings
Preparation
Step 1
Whisk 3/4 cup oil and lemon juice in small bowl to blend. Mix thyme, salt, and pepper in another small bowl. Rub thyme mixture all over veal chops; place in glass baking dish. Pour oil-lemon marinade over; let stand 15 minutes.
Step 2
Preheat oven to 450°F. Combine shallots, vinegar, and remaining 1/4 cup oil in medium roasting pan; toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until shallots are browned and tender, about 15 minutes. Add tomatoes to shallots and roast until tomatoes are soft and browned, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes longer. Remove pan from oven. Add capers and 1 tablespoon reserved brine and stir to blend.
Step 3
Meanwhile, heat large ovenproof skillet over high heat. Drain veal chops and transfer marinade to heavy small saucepan. Add veal to skillet and cook until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer skillet to oven and roast veal to desired doneness, about 10 minutes for medium.
Step 4
Bring reserved oil-lemon marinade to boil; boil 2 minutes. Place 1 veal chop on each of 4 plates. Divide shallot-tomato mixture among plates. Spoon Soft Polenta alongside. Drizzle with oil-lemon marinade. Garnish with arugula and serve.
How would you rate Veal Chops with Roasted Shallots, Arugula, and Soft Polenta?
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Reviews (54)
Back to TopThis has been my go-to party menu for years now. Always impresses. Don't love arugula, so I usually do a side of asparagus. 450º is hot for the shallots. I do better with 400º. Delicious!
sjkrouse1
Indiana
1/18/2021
This was not our combo of flavors. my husband really disliked the tomatoes. Arugula did nothing special for this dish. I threw some garlic cloves with the shallots, and they were the best part of the meal.
daniguinha
los angeles, ca
11/20/2010
Outstanding and relatively easy to make for a dinner party. I omitted the capers from the shallots & tomatoes and served spinach with pine nuts and currants and sauteed mushrooms on the side. Everyone raved!
Anonymous
10/4/2009
This has become my staple recipe for entertaining. Easy for a good weeknight meal and even a dinner party. I've done it with veal, pork, and chicken, all with rave reviews. Probably my most requested meal.
pacheightschef
8/4/2009
Yes, the shallots are peeled.
Anonymous
3/5/2009
This is an awesome, wonderful veal dish! I make this regularly - I do use radicchio instead of the arugual sometimes. My guests find this a wonderful treat. The soft polents sets off the sauce wonderfully.
ViktoryaM
Prescott, AZ
3/5/2009
Question: These shallots don't LOOK peeled. Are they? I don't want to peel mine because I think they look better unpeeled!
myrhmade
The Berkshires
2/5/2009
Somehow this fell short for me. For all of the "big" ingredients (tomatoes and arugula fresh from the garden, balsamic and capers), there was a lack of complexity. I found it rather one dimensional. This likely won't see the table at our house again, which is too bad because I had high hopes.
cateler
Chapel Hill
9/29/2008
The cooking techinque for the veal is flawless - I have regular grocery store (read:smaller and not frenched) veal chops and the meat came out great! (cooked in oven for only 8 minutes.) I would, however, make a few adjustments next time: 1 tablespoon of both salt and pepper was WAY TOO MUCH for my family. Spread out over 5 chops, rather than the 4 stated in the recipe, still resulted in salty and too-peppery chops. I would cut the pepper to one TEASPOON, and just tone down the salt slightly. The 1/4 cup balsamic was a bit strong - which is surprising to me as my family usually loves balsamic dressings, onions, etc. Again: next time I would cut back a little bit. I would also omit the brine from the capers - as that was borderling 'too salty' as well. The arugula is such a minor part to this recipe its misleading to have it in the title, but that is just a picky thing. All in all the recipe was good. Cooking was worthy of 4 forks. I reviewed the soft polenta on that recipe and is not included in this evaluation.
Anonymous
southbury, CT
8/14/2008
This is a wonderful recipe. I changed a couple of things: After searing the chops, instead of putting the pan with the chops in the oven, I transferred the chops to a pie plate to put in the oven, and deglazed the sauté pan with the marinade. I then transferred the reduced marinade to a bowl in the warming drawer and re-used the sauté pan to sauté the polenta. After the shallot/tomato mixture was done, I transferred it to a bowl in the warming drawer and wilted the arugula in the shallot pan with some salt & pepper. I placed the chops on top of the wilted arugula, put some of the shallot/tom mixture on top of each chop and some next to the chop, arranged the polenta slices and drizzled the whole thing with the marinade. AWESOME!
Anonymous
Laguna Beach, CA
3/10/2008
This was spectacular and quite easy to make. The arugala adds a nice bit of freshness and goes great with a drizzle of the sauce. My only lesson with veal shanks is to reuest that the fat be removed, otherwise it's hard to tell how much meat you're getting.
larawyckoff
Minneapolis, MN
9/19/2007
This recipe was terrific. After reading other reviews, I did not add the salt and it was not needed. I prepared fried polenta cakes instead of soft. Easy to make, but definitely great flavors. I made it for a dinner party and it received raves.
ccgcrcg
Las Vegas, NV
3/31/2007
My husband and I added this to our list of regular "gourmet" meals some time ago. We always exclude the salt. We also typically replace the veal with pork as it is far less expensive and just as tasty. The meat, after all, is not the star of this dish. It is the balsamic vinegar, shallot and grape tomato combination that gives this meal its intense flavor. In fact, we often eat the leftover sauce on anything we have around the house for the next couple of days. Another tip: If you have leftover polenta, fry it up the next morning and top it with the sauce for a breakfast FEAST! Even better accompanied by a poached egg!
villaguna
Laguna Beach, CA
3/12/2006
Made this for Valentine's Day. I cut the recipe in half and used the bake the polenta recipe provided by another reviewer. Even though I thought I went light on the salt everything was too salty for my taste. If I make it again I would reduce salt to a minimum.
schellhase
Trendy West LA, CA
2/14/2006
Absolutely delicious and easy to make. After browning the chops, I nestled them in the shallot mixture and returned the whole dish to the oven to finish the cooking.
Anonymous
Berkeley, CA
1/10/2006