Veal Shanks Goes Head To Head

Wine: Shotfire

We had dinner on Sunday night at Mozza and had brought home some left-over Pizza. They really don’t have Pizza to go, but this worked will. We re-heated the pizza and it was great.

We had previously made the Roasted Veal Shank and had joked that Mark at Campanile hasn’t had it on the menu for a long time. It was one of our favorite dishes. When we went to Campanile on Monday night we found the Veal Shank had returned! We intended to order the special Monday night dinner, but instead ordered the Campanile Veal Shank. It was great and we had leftovers that we took home.

We decided to have a veal shank shoot-out and served both of the Shanks: the Campanile version and the recipe that we had made. We both agreed we liked Campanile’s better. It wasn’t only that they made it, but the preparation is braised not roasted, making the meat moister. The only downside, of course, is the recipe for Campanile’s Veal Shank is more complex to make. Maybe we will try it later this winter.

We made a wonderful dish from Paula Wolfert’s Mediterranean Grains and Greens: Provencal Tian with Creamed Spinach. We highly recommend it!

We also made Polenat to serve as a side. We always use the recipe from the Zuni Café Cookbook to make polenta.

When we were finished with the dinner, we used the leftover Polenta and Spinach Tian to make a great Polenta Pie. We buttered a ceramic dish, the covered with the remaining Polenta and topped with the Spinach Tien. We later baked it and it was delicious.

Provencal Tian with Creamed Spinach
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4 quarts stemmed spinach
5 tablespoons butter
3 cups chopped onions
Salt
1 ½ cloves garlic
Freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ tablespoon milk, heated
Grated Nutmeg
¼ cup grated bread crumbs
1 teaspoon olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 375 Degrees
2. Wash and drain the spinach
3. Heat 3 tablespoons butter until bubbling. Add the onions and cook, covered over medium heat for 10 minutes.
4. Chop the spinach
5. When the onion is soft but not brown, stir in the spinach, garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Raise the heat and cook for 10 minutes while stirring, until the spinach is very liquidity.
6. Drain the liquid into another pan and reduce the liquid by ½
7. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a heavy saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute without browning
8. Pour in the reduced liquid and stir until creamy and smooth
9. Gradually stir in the warm milk, nutmeg bring to a boil stirring
10. Add the spinach and stir to mix
11. Place the spinach mixture in an oiled 10 inch earthenware dish, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and drizzle with oil
12. Bake 20 minutes until the breadcrumbs are brown and the tian bubbling
13. Cool for 15 minutes and serve warm