Juicy veal cutlets with a tangy Gorgonzola sauce is a perfect marriage of ingredients typical of the Lombardy region of northern Italy. There lush green pastures, fresh mountain air, and cool streams produce excellent dairy products and wonderful veal.
Gorgonzola is a blue-veined, cow’s-milk cheese that takes its name from the town of Gorgonzola in Lombardy. Like its cousins Roquefort and Stilton, it has a piquant flavor and blue veining produced by mold spores that age with the cheese. You can find a domestic Gorgonzola, crumbled and ready-to-use in the supermarket.
The veal and pasta take just minutes to make. Get all of the ingredients ready before you start cooking and serve the meal immediately.
• Fred Tasker’s wine suggestion: Creamy Gorgonzola calls for a big red wine like merlot.
• Helpful Hints:
Any type of blue veined cheese can be used. Look for crumbled blue-veined cheese in the dairy section of the supermarket.
Use a nonstick skillet that just fits the veal in one layer. If it is too big, the sauce will evaporate while cooking.
Veal Gorgonzola
Makes 2 servings
3 tablespoons flour
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
2, 6-ounce veal cutlets
Olive oil spray
3/4 cup skim milk
1/4 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Place flour on a plate and season with salt and pepper to taste. Dip the veal cutlets in the flour coating both sides; shake off extra flour.
Heat a small, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and spray with olive oil spray. Add one cutlet at time. Brown cutlets one at a time, 2 minutes on the first side, 1 minute on the second. Transfer to a serving dish and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the milk to the skillet and scrape up the brown bits in the bottom of the pan, about 10-15 seconds. Add the Gorgonzola cheese and stir to melt the cheese and make a smooth sauce. Taste for seasoning. Add pepper if needed. The cheese should provide enough salt. Spoon sauce over cutlets and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Per serving: 350 calories (29 percent from fat),11.4 g fat (5.1 g saturated, 4.1 g monounsaturated), 154 mg cholesterol, 45.3 g protein, 15.6 g carbohydrates, 1.1 g fiber, 419 mg sodium.
Fresh Linguine With Sweet Pimentos
Makes 2 servings
1/4 pound fresh linguine
1 teaspoon olive oil
3/4 cup drained sweet pimento, cut into 1/4-inch strips
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Place a large saucepan with 3 to 4 quarts water on to boil. Add linguine and boil 3 minutes if fresh, 9 minutes if dried. Drain leaving about 2 tablespoons water in the pot. Add oil, pimento and drained linguine to the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss well.
Per serving: 248 calories (12 percent from fat), 3.3 g fat (0.5 g saturated, 1.8 g monounsaturated), no cholesterol, 8.2 g protein, 46.2 g carbohydrates, 3.2 g fiber, 13 mg sodium.
