It's so simple: veal roast with fennel and shallots

One of the best cooking teachers EVER once wrote that if a recipe contains more than five ingredients, excluding salt, pepper , cooking fat and water, she was not interested in making it.
While I think that is a somewhat severe rule, and I doubt that the author actually MEANT it, it's a fairly good guideline to follow when you cook. Very few dishes benefit from excessive ingredients. When too many "things" go into your dish, the flavors "crowd" each other, and you get a muddy dish. Sometimes, you want that: stews, frequently, are not about how flavors interact with each other, but how they "meld" into one, unique flavor that is not like anything in the dish. There's nothing wrong with that, and often, there is everything GOOD about that. But there is also something very special about a dish that doesn't require tons of shopping, tons of prep, and so many bowls on your plate that you can't cook, because you'll knock something over. And I think that if you analyzed many of your favorite dishes, you'd find that they usually do follow the five ingredient rule. (Baked goods are somewhat of an exception here: butter/sugar/eggs/flour/vanilla... There you are. And we haven't even gotten to the good stuff).

Perhaps the apotheosis of this style of cooking, at least to Annalena, is maiale al latte, that decidedly non kosher dish of pork and milk. Olive oil, salt, pepper, pork shoulder, milk. PERIOD. If your ingredient are not spot on, you're in trouble. Another one: pasta cacio e pepe. What's here? Pasta, salt (in the cooking water), cacio cheese, and black pepper. How simple? And how difficult. Try to skimp on that dish. I dare you...

This past weekend, I made a dish that defies the rule (beef bourgignon, and we'll get to that), and this one, which proves that "yes, we can!" It's an interesting combination of ingredients: veal , shallots, fennel, thyme and chicken stock are your five ingredients. You'll need olive oil, salt and pepper too. And you'll need some time. But it's worth it. Let's make it.

First, your cut of veal. You need a nice roast. I learned it calling for shoulder roast, and I used something from the center cut instead. I was happy with that. My roast was just over 2 pounds. Fine for a small portion of dinner for 8 people (we were having the beef as well, remember?). Veal is very lean, so try to get something boneless, with a nice layer of fat too. You also need nearly two pounds of shallots. That's a lot of them. Also three fennel bulbs. Finally, you will also need a pint of chicken stock (you can use wine instead, but this is so good with the stock...), and about a half dozen sprigs of thyme. Also salt, pepper, and olive oil.

Let's get to work. Preheat your oven to 375. While this is happening, pat your roast dry, and then mix together, a tablespoon of salt and lots of chopped fresh thyme. At least a tablespoon, more if you have the patience. Then add half a tablespoon of pepper, and mix them all together. Now, pat this all over the roast. There will be enough. And heat a healthy tablespoon of olive oil in a pot, just large enough to hold the veal, lengthwise, as well as the vegetables you chopped (test by putting everything in). Put that aside, and peel and slice the shallots (this is laborious. Keep at it), as well as the three fennel bulbs.

Put the roast into the pot with the hot oil, and sear it. Give it a good two-three minutes on the larger sides, and then about thirty seconds a side, on the smaller ones. Put it aside.

Add another hefty tablespoon of olive oil to whatever remains in the pan. And add the vegetables. You don't need to add salt, because the roast has been salted, and it's going back. Saute' the vegetables until they brown. There's a lot of veggies here, and you'll need about 10 minutes to get there. Add the stock. Again, keep stirring, for three minutes or so. Then add the meat back to the vegetables, put some on top of the roast, and then cover the pot. Put the whole thing into the oven and go and read Proust or something for about an hour and a quarter.

The smell coming out of the kitchen will make you very excited. When you take the pot out of the stove, and remove the cover (WEAR A POT HOLDER), the aroma may very well make you faint, it smells so good. If you want more aroma, chop up some more thyme, but you don't need it.

The vegetables will have cooked down to something resembling a very thick, french onion soup. You will have more of this than you need, and you can use it to sauce pasta or something else. Let the veal cook and slice it. This is crumbly, so you may want to slice it thick if appearance is very important to you, but if not, just slice thinly, and serve it up with some of the sauce.

I made this with roasted Jerusalem artichokes, but I could very easily seeing this on rice, or potatoes, or celery root, or just by itself.

It's a really wonderful dish. Promise me you'll try to make it.