Yudhika is cooking with the fresh flavours of Italy today She starts by preparing a hearty Veal Cottage Pie topped with Parmesan Cheese followed by a Penne with Chicken and Artichoke dish. To finish off the feast a Malva Pudding with a touch of Italian liqueur and a luscious chocolate sauce.
Ingredients
- 900g veal, finely chopped
- 45ml sunflower oil
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- Pinch of salt, to season
- 200g carrots, finely chopped
- 100g bacon, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 400g tin chopped Italian tomatoes
- 500ml beef stock
- 100ml red wine
- Few sprigs dried oregano or 10ml dried oreganum Fresh parsley, to garnish
Method
- Heat the sunflower oil in an 30cm Gourmet Roaster
- Add the bay leaf and fry until fragrant.
- Add the chopped onion to the oil and saute until cooked just past translucent.
- Stir the chopped carrots into the onion, and saute until they soften.
- Next, add the bacon and cook until the fat melts.
- Add the garlic and fresh thyme.
- Fry the garlic off for about ten seconds, add the chopped veal.
- Stir-fry the veal for 2 – 3 minutes on a high heat.
- Add the tomatoes, beef stock, red wine and oregano.
- Season with black pepper.
- Reduce the heat and simmer until the veal is cooked through – this should take about ten minutes.
- The veal should not be cooked down until dry.
For the topping
- 800g potatoes, boiled in the skins
- Pinch of salt, to season
- 50g butter, melted
- 20ml fresh thyme leaves
- 125ml parmesan, grated
- Remove the skins from the potatoes and grate them into a mixing bowl.
- Season with a pinch of salt, add the melted butter and fresh thyme leaves.
- Add the parmesan, and stir lightly to mix the ingredients together.
- Top the cooked veal with potato.
- Bake at 180 degrees celsius for 20 minutes or until the potato topping is golden brown.
- Garnish with chopped parsley.