I began by researching recipes for chicken and pork
parmigiana, both baked and fried, but eventually decided to start with this veal recipe from
Catelli Brothers. Their recipe fries the cutlets in oil, but I found that
it worked well as a baked dish. I visited their processing plant on my tour,
and Mr. Catelli sent me the veal cutlets that I used in the dish.
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| Season, flour, egg, and bread crumbs. Its really too easy. |
First, season the cutlets with a little salt and pepper,
then coat them in flour and an egg wash. Mix Parmesan cheese with
Italian-seasoned panko bread crumbs for the final coating. I like to use paper
plates for the flour and bread crumbs because it’s just so easy to throw away
the egg and raw meat soaked flour and bread crumbs when you are done and not
worry about cross contamination. I sprinkled a little olive oil on both sides
of the breaded cutlets.
I placed the cutlets on a baking rack in the oven, preheated
to 425°F, and cooked them until they reached at least 150°F internally. If you
don’t have a cooking rack, you can place them in a baking dish and turn them
after about 4-5 minutes. Veal cutlets are typically sliced very thin, so they
cook quickly. In my convection oven, they were done after about 8 minutes. A
conventional oven will take a little longer.
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| Bake and top with sauce and cheese. |
After they reach temperature, I topped the cutlets with a
few spoonfuls of marinara sauce from a jar, a mixture of mozzarella and
parmesan cheeses, and a little parsley. I baked them for a couple more minutes,
until the cheese was melted, and served them over pasta with more marinara.
In addition to its ease of preparation, this is also a
fairly inexpensive dish. Veal cutlets will cost about $10, but I purchased all
the remaining ingredients for about $20. Most cooks will already have olive
oil, flour, pasta, and the cheeses in their kitchen. It easily made 5 servings for $5-6 per serving.
I practiced this dish at my office and served it to two students who had never
tried veal. They were both very impressed.
This is an easy veal dish that would be a great way to introduce your family to a new protein.
Baked Veal
Parmigiana
4-5 veal
cutlets
1 c flour
2 eggs
whisked with 1 tbsp water
1 ½ cup
Italian seasoned Panko bread crumbs
Shredded
parmesan cheese
Shredded
mozzarella cheese
Spaghetti
sauce
Olive oil
Salt,
pepper, parsley
Season cutlets with salt and pepper. Coat cutlets in flour,
dip in egg bath, and coat in mixture of bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Place
on baking rack and sprinkle both sides of cutlets with olive oil. Bake in oven
at 425°F until cutlets reach 150°F. Top cutlets with marinara and blend of
parmesan and mozzarella cheese and parsley. Bake until cheese is melted.
Serve with pasta and marinara sauce.
