Veal Picatta, Roast Potatoes, Dry Fried Vegetables, Roast Mushrooms. Dobos Torte.

So, technically, this is not a normal post, as this was what I made for my mother for her birthday dinner. Since my girl was still there, eating with us, it still technically counts. My mother is Hungarian, and loves Dobos Torte and I never really understood why, as for me, Dobos always seems lacklustre, and I never really understood the caramel top layer as it was thick and impossible to cut through. Now, having made the cake myself, I finally get it. It was delicious. The bitter caramel balances out the rest of the cake and it becomes a balanced slice of deliciousness. Also, controlling the thickness of the caramel layer and keeping it relatively thin and allowing it to cool slowly and soak into the top layer really helps a fork get through. Also, for some reason, my mother really loves Veal Picatta, and although, I didn't love it, she really did, so that was good. I apparently put too much parsley on things. Also, I have to give credit to SmittenKitchen for her recipe for the Dobos Torte.

Veal Picatta with Confit Garlic and Fresh Parsley 

Delicious.

Ingredients

750g Veal Scallopini

250 ml White White

150 ml Chicken Stock

40g Butter (More for Cooking) 

Juice of 1 Lemon

Capers (Mostly Drained)

Floured Plate (For dredging the Veal)

1 Head of Garlic (Peeled and Separated)

1 Handful of Fresh Parsley (Washed, Chopped Semi-Coarsely)

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, over low heat, add olive to 1/4 inch full and add garlic cloves. Cover and leave to confit. About 40 minutes.

2. Dredge the veal, dust off, place on second plate.

3. In a large frypan, on medium high heat, heat olive oil and butter, when just barely smoking hot, add veal in single layer batches, brown on both sides, remove to clean plate and reserve. Continue cooking remaining veal in this manner. Add butter and oil as needed when absorbed or burned off.

4. With frypan on the heat, add white wine to deglaze and scrape the pan and stir the sediment into the sauce. Heat wine until reduced by half then add chicken stock, lemon juice, capers, and 40g butter. Stir until sauce has thickened then add the browned veal scallopini pieces to the frypan and fold them into the sauce. 

5. Cook for about 4 minutes, then add the confit garlic cloves. Reserve oil from confit garlic.

6. Remove and arrange veal pieces to serving plate, ladle sauce on and around the veal. Add parsley on top. Drizzle reserved oil from the confit garlic saucepan onto veal and around.

7. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.

Oven Roasted Potatoes and Mushrooms

Oven Roasting is smart.

Ingredients

4 Large Russet Potatoes (Peeled, Washed, Cubed)

12 Mushrooms (Cleaned and Halfed)
Italian Seasoning  Really any spices works here.

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Directions

1. In a large bowl, place, cubed potatoes, olive oil to coat, spices to coat. Mix to coat evenly.

2. Pour onto baking sheet and place in a 425F oven until crispy, turn occasionally to promote even browning.

3. Place the mushrooms, flat side down, on the baking sheet, with the potatoes after the first turning.

Dry Fried Vegetables

In general this is more of a technique than a recipe. And would work for most vegetables. 

People that say they don't like vegetables are cooking them all wrong.

1. Place vegetables in a dry non-stick frypan and cook over medium heat uncovered until some browning occurs then season with salt and pepper and cover. Cook until vegetables are tender crisp, turning occasionally.

Dobos Torte

This delicious cake is made from several alternating layers of very thin semi-firm sponge and chocolate buttercream; the top layer is caramelized sugar. Very simple, not really that many ingredients, but very delicious.

Heaven.

Ingredients and Directions

Sponge

200g Egg Yolk (10 Egg Yolks)

200g Egg Whites (7 Egg Whites)

454g Icing Sugar

15g Lemon Juice

95g All Purpose Flour

Butter for Greasing

1. Pre-heat oven to 425F and prepare 2 12"x18" baking sheets with buttered parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks until pale and thickened. Add the sugar in 4 batches, beating until absorbed. Add the flour and beat until well mixed. Add lemon juice and beat until well mixed. Set aside.

3. In a separate bowl and with clean whips, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

4. Fold the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture in four batches. Gently pour half of mixture onto each prepared baking sheet and gently spread evenly onto sheet to form one single thin layer.

5. Bake both sheets in upper half of oven for approximately 10 minutes, alternating shelf layer half way through. Bake until cake is golden brown on top and semi-firm to touch.

6. Remove sheets from oven, place flat side of a cake rack onto each cake layer. Flip sheet over leaving rack correctly oriented and parchment layer up. Peel parchment layer off completely, place second cake rack, flat side down, on back side of cake layer, flip again and remove cake rack from top layer of cake, leaving correctly oriented cake layer on correctly oriented cake rack. Also, apparently it works to somehow dust your cake racks with icing sugar, I didn't really see how that was possible as the icing sugar simple slips right off the cake rack.

7. Leave to cool then cut each sheet into 4 large rectangles to make 8 rectangles total. Layer each sheet with parchment in between and set aside to cool.

Chocolate Buttercream

454g Dark Chocolate

454g Butter (Softened, Salted or Unsalted)

80g Egg Yolk (4 Egg Yolks)

16g Icing Sugar

10ml (2 Tsp) Vanilla Extract

1. Melt dark chocolate in a double boiler or in a bowl over a pot of boiling water. Set aside.

2. In another bowl, beat the softened butter until smooth add the egg yolks, vanilla, and icing sugar, mix till combined. Then add the chocolate and mix again until combined. Allow to come to room temperature before spreading on cake layers.

3. To assemble the cake, place the bottom sponge layer on parchment paper and apply liberal amounts of buttercream icing on each layer, spreading with an offset spatula or knife from the centre outwards. Reserve and set aside 1 layer for the caramel top and spread buttercream icing on and around outside the cake to seal.

Caramel Top Layer

112g (1/2 Cup) Granulated Sugar

15g (1 Tbsp) Cold Water

1. Place reserved sponge layer on well lined parchment paper sheet pan.

2. Stir cold water and sugar in a cold saucepan till combined.

3. Heat on medium high heat until mixture appears medium amber then pour the mixture evenly onto the sponge layer. Allow to cool then place on top of the cake. Refrigerate before serving.

Sooooo nice!