Veal Involtini

Involtini means 'little bundles' and if you travel around Italy you will find this recipe in many guises. You can use a number of meats, fish or chicken. What I particularly wanted to do was cook something with the in-season asparagus.

Last night's recipe was from an Italian cookbook called 'The food of Italy'. This is a beautiful cookbook, almost a coffee table book with its beautiful pictures.

So, I decided to make a trip to Farro Fresh, in Mt Wellington, to see if I could get the ingredients. Firstly, veal escalopes (steaks?) were not available, mortadella (like luncheon with pistachios) not available also, the cheese was a Bel Paese (never heard of it!) once again not available. So just like me, I improvised, and went with prosciutto, and a beautiful French cheese called Raclette, famous for melting beautifully, and a wonderful experience if you have ever been to a restaurant of the same name. I stopped in at the famous Elerslie Butcher on the way home for the veal.

Since the Italians use a variety of different ingredients, you can definitely improvise as they turned out delicious. (bacon, tasty cheese... these also keep the price down)

Ingredients - (I was cooking for 2, so double for four).
2 x veal steaks, pounded with a meat mallet until thin
4 x slices of raclette cheese
4 x slices prosciutto
8 x asparagus spears
plain flour seasoned with salt and pepper
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
kitchen string

Method
1 Remove woody ends of asparagus and blanch in boiling water for 3 mins. Drain and set aside.
2 I didn't have a meat mallet so ended up using the potato masher (great innovation there) to get the veal quite thin. I decided to make 4 smaller parcels, so you decide how big you want them, the recipe suggests 12 x 18cm rectangles.
3 Cover each piece of veal with a slice of the prosciutto and then the cheese. Top with two asparagus spears each facing the opposite end. Roll each veal slice up tightly and tie in place at each end with kitchen string.
4 Heat 2 Tbsp butter with the olive oil in a frying pan. Fry the rolls over low heat for about 10 minutes, turning frequently, until golden.

Now, you can serve just like this, or you can add a Marsala sauce to it. This would be a good idea during the winter, as it will be like a gravy. Add 3 Tbsp Marsala, 1 Tbsp butter, and 3 Tbsp of the water you cooked the asparagus in to the frypan. Simmer for 3-4 mins, scraping up the bits from the bottom of the pan. Taste for seasoning and then spoon over the rolls.

In winter these could be served with mashed potato, but we just had it with a fresh salad and a piece of the new season corn. Easy!