Coast to coast and overseas cooking - Saltimbocca

When a group of people with similar interests and passions spend time together, even if it is only virtually, great ideas and lots of fun are sure to follow. If you need to prepare ordinary weekday dinner or you need an idea for a special occasion, there's always someone ready to jump in and give you a hand. I'm happy to be part of such a group of people. It's called BakeSpace.
Another great initiative started on BakeSpace that will take you on an International Taste Tour. Originally called Coast to Coast Cookoff, but then it crossed the border of the USA and is now called ITT (as you know, I live in Italy). This is the 3rd round and the theme was Saltimbocca. Easy and so versatile recipe when you have a bunch of hungry mouths waiting for something to "jump in".
So, we all prepared basicly the same thing, Saltimbocca, but were free to choose from many possibilities according to our tastes and liking. I decided to use the most classical of all recipes for Saltimbocca, that is Saltimbocca alla Romana, and added all the vegetables I had in my "orto"!!! sorry, in my fridge.
At the end of the post you'll find the link to all other recipes. Enjoy.

SALTIMBOCCA ALL'ORTOLANA

4 veal cutlets
4 slices of Prosciutto
4 sage leaves
salt, pepper
1 tablespoon EVOO
1 tablespoon butter

1 onion or shallot
1 zucchini
1 red or yellow pepper (the one I used was from my garden)
1 carrot
some mushrooms
a few broccoli flowers (*)
some green beans (*)
some spinach (*)
1 tablespoon heavy cream
salt, pepper, parsley and/or fresh/dry herbs of your choice

If you don't have all fresh ingredients, feel free to use some frozen ones(*).

Place the meat on a cutting board, cover with a piece of plastic wrap and pound lightly (be gentle, the poor animal's been dead for a while now).

Place a slice of Prosciutto and a sage leave over each cutlet and fasten them with a toothpick.

Place oil and butter in a large sauté pan, when melted and warm, add the cutlets and sear them 1 minute per side (Veal has lower fat and higher water percentage compared to some other types of meat, so unless you want your veal to taste like wood, don't let it lose all the moisture).



Remove the meat from the pan and place in a warm plate.

In the meantime, wash and clean the vegetables.

Chop or dice or slice them as desired.

In the same pan in which you seared the meat, start stirfrying the vegetables.
I usually start with onions, carrots and peppers. If you have time, roast and peel the pepper first, it will add such a good flavour and you won't have to bother with the skin later.

After a few minutes I add zucchini and mushrooms.

In the end, I add the frozen vegetables.

Cover and cook at medium low heat for 10-15 minutes or until the vegetables have the consistency that you like (I like when they are still a little crispy). If necessary, or if you like your veggies to be very soft, add some vegetable stock. Add the salt and herbs towards the end.
When the vegetables are done, add a tablespoon of heavy cream,

stir and put the meat back in the pan to warm it up with the vegetables.


After a minute or two, turn the heat off. Remove the tootpicks from cutlets and serve. Some roasted potatoes would have been nice, too.
Pour yourself a glass of good wine (we had some Barbera d'Asti), and enjoy!



To check what delicious Saltimbocca dishes everyone else has prepared for this cooking event click on the map. Once you are there click on the names on the left, pictures will appear, if you click on them you will be taken to the blogs where the recipes are published:



(Ita)
SALTIMBOCCA ALL'ORTOLANA

Ho preparato questa ricetta per il Coast to Coast Cookoff con un gruppo di foodblogger che, come me, fanno anche parte del BakeSpace, un social network per appassionati di cucina.
Tema di questo Coast to Coast n. 3 era Saltimbocca. Per vedere cosa hanno preparato gli altri partecipanti cliccate sulla mappa che vedete sopra. Sul lato sinistro troverete i nomi dei partecipanti, cliccandoci sopra apparirano le foto che vi porteranno poi sui loro rispettivi blog.



4 fettine di vitello
4 fettine di prosciutto crudo
4 foglie di salvia
sale, pepe
1 cucchiaio d'olio EVO
1 cucchiaio di burro

1 cipolla o scalogno
1 carota
1 peperone rosso o giallo
1 zucchina
una decina di funghi champignon
fagiolini, broccoli, spinaci (*)
1 cucchiaio di panna da cucina
sale, pepe, prezzemolo e/o altre erbe aromatiche

(*)Ho usato queste verdure surgelate.

Lavate, asciugate e tagliate tutte le verdure.
Coprite le fettine di carne con la pellicola trasparente e battetele leggermente.
Adagiate una fettina di prosciutto e una foglia di salvia su ogni fettina, fermate il tutto con uno stuzzicadenti.
Scaldate l'olio e il burro in una padella capiente. Salate e pepate la carne a piacere e cuocete un minuto per lato.
Togliete le fettine dalla padella e tenetele al caldo.
Nella stessa padella soffriggete prima la cipolla, la carota e il peperone. Dopo qualche minuto unite anche le zucchine e i funghi. Alla fine aggiungete le verdure surgelate. Coprite, e lasciate cuocere 10-15 minuti o finché le verdure sono morbide. Se necessario aggiungete un po' di brodo di verdure. Salate e pepate verso la fine di cottura, e se vi piace, aggiungete anche un cucchiaio di panna da cucina.
Adagiate i saltimbocca sopra le verdure per scaldarli un po' e servite... magari con le patate e un bicchiere di buon vino.

(Cro)
SALTIMBOCCA ALL'ORTOLANA
(TELE?E ?NICLE S POVR?EM)

S ovim receptom sudjelujem na Coast to Coast Cookoffu, zajedno s drugim foodbloggerima koji su kao i ja ?lanovi BakeSpacea.
Za ovaj 3. krug, tema je bila Saltimbocca. Mogu?nosti su bile doista neograni?ene. ?elite li vidjeti ?to su pripremili ostali sudionici, kliknite na mapu na kraju engleskog ?lanka, s lijeve strane na?i ?ete imena svih sudionika, kliknite na ime i pojavit ?e vam se slika njihovog recepta koja ?e vas odvesti do njihovog bloga.



4 tele?e ?nicle
4 tanke kri?ke pr?uta
4 lista svje?e ?alfije
sol, papar, Vegeta
1 ?lica maslinovog ulja
1 ?lica maslaca

1 glavica crvenog luka
1 mrkva
1 tikvica
1 crvena ili ?uta paprika
10-ak ?ampinjona
zelene mahune, nekoliko cvjetova brokule, ?pinat (*)
1 ?lica vrhnja za kuhanje
sol, papar, svje?e ili suho aromatsko bilje (per?un, timijan, itd.)

(*)Ove sam sastojke koristila smrznute. Po ?elji ili mogu?nosti mo?ete koristiti sve svje?e.

Stavite ?nicle na dasku za meso, pokrijte komadom prozirne folije, i malo stanjite ?eki?em za meso.
Posolite, popaprite i povegetite.
Na svaku ?niclu stavite 1 kri?ku pr?uta i 1 list ?alfije. Pri?vrstite pr?ut i ?alfiju ?a?kalicom za meso.
Zagrijte maslac i ulje u dubokoj tavi, pa kratko popr?ite meso s obje strane. Izvadite meso, stavite na tanjur i dr?ite na toplom.
U me?uvremenu operite i o?istite sve povr?e. Nare?ite po ?elji (na kockice, komadi?e, ?tapi?e).
U istoj masno?i popr?ite prvo luk, mrkvu i papriku. Nakon par minuta dodajte tikvicu i gljive. Na kraju dodajte i smrznuto povr?e.
Kuhajte 10-15 minuta poklopljeno dok povr?e ne omek?a, po potrebi dodajte koju ?licu juhe od povr?a.
Pred kraj dodajte za?ine i vrhnje.
Stavite meso preko povr?a da se zagrije, odstranite ?a?kalice i poslu?ite.