Baked Veal Parmigiana

After spending three days learning all about the American Milk-fed Veal Industry,  I wanted to incorporate some veal into my family’s meals. First, I tried Veal Parmigiana, a classic Italian recipe that is actually very easy to prepare. We eat plenty of fried food in my house, so I decided to put a healthy spin on Veal Parmigiana and prepare a baked version.

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.

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.

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.