Easy Veal

A stroll through the indoor Wayland Winter Farmers Market (there are more and more of these these days) revealed a farmer selling artisanally-raised veal. If that seems like an oxymoron to you, it does to me too. But as you know I haven't yet reconciled killing these cute little creatures with eating them. Anyway, the farmer explained to me that he has a small herd of hand-tended, grass-and-milk-fed animals here in Massachusetts. We chatted for a while and then he opened his cooler and took out a few packages of cryovac-sealed small veal chops. He almost seemed reluctant to part with them. I bought 4, thinking it would be enough for 2 meals for me and my husband, but ended up cooking all 4 and devouring them (unfortunately, before I had a chance to take a picture). But believe me they looked like any small veal chop, except they didn't taste like that. They were tender, succulent morsels, and not nearly enough.

I prepared them by making a mixture of salt, black pepper, dried thyme and dried sage and sprinkling the mixture on both sides of each chop (these were less then 1" thick). I preheated my spiffy new oven and placed the chops on a rack in the broiler pan which came with the oven, and broiled the chops about 4 inches from the heat source for a total of about 17 minutes, turning once. There are those who have a "meat sense" and can tell when meat is done by pressing their fingers into the meat. Not me--I rely on very careful monitoring and attention to time (it's extremely easy to overcook veal, resulting in a dry, rubbery piece of meat).

It wasn't exactly an economical meal (veal is costly no matter where you buy it--these were about $7 or $8 a lb.), but it was extremely easy and fast.