When schnitzels moved to Australia from the home Austra, they have become australian and there are many varieties, veal, beef, chicken, pork, and certainly one of the favourite dishes in pubs, bistros in the country, surburban and metro. We know it's not Austrian, but here, the pubs usually serve it with fresh chunky chips and salad, coleslaw. The version seen early on Channel 10's Masterchef for one of the pressure test is a typical Australian take of the traditional Austrian schnitzel.
The boys in the family love them as well... It's a typical boy's meal, yeah? they love the potato, they love the crumbed meats....
Usually I'd do chips but I'm getting a bit lazy today and opted for the duck fat roasted potatoes (after all, hubby is English) and just some plain steamed greens - first day of the spring, and still cold and wet.
I use veal steaks, the original Weiner Schnitzel is Veal, and they just taste better.
Some people roll their meat, I usually bash them until they are really thin.... It's a good stress relief after a stressful day at work, or a not happy boss, or a bunch of unhappy customers, yeah?
A bit of plain flour mixed with white pepper and salt, bit nutmeg, to coat the meat, dust off the excess.
Dip in a lightly whisked egg, and this time I added a bit of almond meal to my bread crumb (I normally use sourdough crumbs, I keep some in my freezer made from my own sourdough loaves). It's nice to add a bit of herbs say finely chopped parsley etc, but the children are not too keen on herbs...
And I normally just use a small non stick frying pan to fry them on each side with vegetable oil, put on paper towel to soak off excess fat....
We all love Italian food in the family, and we do try to find as traditional dishes as possibly can...
This is my adaption of Veal Osso Bucco, a dish I saw on Italian Food Safari...
For the Gremolata:
Zest of 1 leomon
1.5 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
5 sprigs parsley
Pinch of sea salt flakes
Mince garlic and parsley, add salt and lemon zest, and olive oil, and stir well, serve with Osso Bucco.
For the Gnocchi:
450g Potato
80g plain flour
Pinch of salt.
Boil potato in skin, when ready, take them out and dry in colander, when still warm, use ricer to make mash, mix with flour, knead dough. Gently form a long stripe, shape gnocchi into shell shape at the back of fork, and cooked for 2-3 minutes in boiled water.
Drain well. Melt butter in pan, and gently toss gnocchi in pan.
For the Osso Bucco:
4 Pieces of Veal Osso Bucco
1 Can of Diced Italian Tomato
Dried Herbs – Oregano, Mint, Bay Leaves…
2 tbsp Tomato Paste
1/3 cup white wine
2 cloves garlic
1 onion
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp Greek Yoghurt
1 cup Veal Stock (or beef stock)
Fresh parsley, a handful
80g fresh mushroom slices.
Salt and Raw sugar to taste
Heat olive oil in pan, add in thinly sliced onion and crushed garlic, caramelise till bit fragrant, place veal osso bucco on top of caramelised onion.
Add dried herbs, sear both sides of osso bucco.
Add tomato paste and diced tomato, add salt.
Add white wine, sugar and mix well.
Add stock and place mushroom slices and chopped parsley loosely on top.
Simmer for 2 hours.
Add yoghurt and simmer mix well, simmer for further 30 minutes.
And, this is dinner..
