Impulse buying: veal stew with carrots and chestnuts

Let's have a show of hands: how many of you have NEVER bought something on impulse?

LIAR. You KNOW who you are, and you KNOW you're lying. OF COURSE you've bought something on impulse , we all do. In fact, I probably do at least once a day. Even my Nana, who was as frugal as the day is long, would impulse buy. She would justify it by saying "well, someday we'll use it , and you'll never see it at that price again. "
Sure Nana, anything you say.
I do it with food all the time. I see something and HAVE TO HAVE IT. So what if I don't have any idea what to do with it? This probably explains the quart bottle of agave sweetener stuck (literally as well as figuratively), in the back of my cupboard, attracting the attention of various six legged creatures, and occasionally weeping onto a box of rice. It's not so bad with stuff like agave, which will keep. when I find that huge bunch of cardoons, that takes of 3/4 of the fridge, however, well, now we got problems.

Some time ago, I did an impulse buy on veal. Now, this is what happened. One of the farms from which I buy cheese had to deal with the inevitable: they had too many boy calves. On a milk farm, well, you know... And so, they dispatched the calves. I think there were only 2 (it's a small farm), and they immediately let their customers know that they had a small stash of grass fed veal.

Annalena was THERE. Immediately, I picked up 3 pounds of ground, and 3 pounds of stew meat. Ground meat, I can do just about anything with. I ASSUMED I would know what to do with the stew meat.

OOPS. Not so fast, Annalena. So, 3 pounds of stew meat went into the freezer "for when I figure out what to do with it."

Now, normally, that's the kiss of death for what goes into the freezer. Not this time. As I began cleaning out the freezer, so I could fill it again, I found the veal, and began thinking: "veal stroganoff." Yup, that's where it was going to go.

But somehow, veal and sour cream were not working for me as a combination (at this point my most faithful of the faithful, Sue, is saying out loud "what the heck is WRONG with you?"). What can I say, it wasn't happening. So I went looking, and found this one. I like it. I think you will too.

What I have found with stews of this type is that pork, veal and beef are generally interchangeable with each other. What is NOT interchangeable are cuts. For example, if you find yourself with a large piece of veal for scallopini, for heaven's sake DON'T slow cook it. And shanks will take too long to cook in this recipe. But pork shoulder, veal shoulder, beef stew meat, maybe even lamb, would all work this way. Try it. It's easy, and it's good.

You start with a can or package of chestnuts. If you use the can, drain them. (The original recipe has you roasting and peeling fresh chestnuts. Screw that). Put them aside. You also need 4 tablespoons of olive oil, and 3 pounds of veal stew meat. In addition, chop up two medium onions, a bay leaf, and about 4 cloves of garlic. Then, you also need 3 cups or so of chicken stock and 3/4 cup of white wine. These liquids can be modified. Use beef stock if you like, or use just chicken or beef stock, or use red wine instead of white. Finally, clean up six medium carrots, and slice them into half moons.

Now, let's get to work. Dry off that veal, really good. I let it sit on paper towels exposed to the air for an hour, and then salt and pepper it. Heat half the oil in a big pot, and when it's hot, add the veal, to cover the bottom of the pan. Brown the pieces nicely, and TAKE YOUR TIME. Don't crowd the veal either: do it in batches. Put it aside as it cooks.

Pour off any fat that is left (there won't be much), and add the remaining oil. Add the onions, the g arlic and the bay leaf. Lower the heat, cover the pot, and let them sweat for five minutes or so. Take off the cover, and add your liquids, and bring them to a boil. Now add the meat, bring it back to a boil and cover the pot. Turn the heat to low, and cook for 45 minutes.

We didn't forget the carrots. At the end of 45 minutes, uncover the pot, and add them. Cook everything for another 45 minutes. The carrots should be tender, and the liquid very reduced. Stir in the chestnuts, breaking them up if they are big. Taste it, and adjust the seasonings.

Like any stew, this is gonna taste better the second day, so try to make it ahead of time. If you can't, oh well. Just pour yourself a glass of whatever wine you used in the dish, if you used wine, or drink something better. All you really need with this is a salad of some kind of bitter greens, but I can't imagine polenta not making this a real feast. And I love green beans with veal, or peas, or something "verdant."

If you are not anti-veal, make this. It's good and relative to what veal costs generally, it's cheap. You'll be a happy person.