Veal Parmigiana

I have this love-hate relationship with Italian food. I absolutely love it. Problem is it doesn’t like me very much and does horrible things to my figure. So when I do have Italian, it’s always homemade – even pizza – it tastes so much better and is so much healthier.
Now, if you decide to cheat and use shop-bought pasta sauce for this recipe, you can and I promise I won’t tell.

Tried & Tasted Recipe

For the tomato sauce

• 1 onion
• 1 or 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 celery stick
• 1 large carrot 
• 2 tbsps olive oil
• 400 g fresh or tinned tomatoes
• 2 tbsps tomato paste
•  ½ tsp dried basil
• Salt & pepper

For the veal

• 1 egg
• 2 tbsps milk
• 250 g dry bread crumbs
• 100 g grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 veal scallopinis
• 5 tbsps olive oil + 2 tbsp butter
• 500 ml tomato pasta sauce
• 100 g shredded mozzarella cheese

First, prepare the sauce.
Chop onion, garlic, celery and carrot and fry in 2 tbsp olive oil, until translucent.
Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and basil
Season to taste and cook for at least 10 minutes. 

Using an electric blender, blend the sauce until nice and smooth.

Heat oven to 180°C.
Mix egg and milk.
Mix bread crumbs and half the Parmesan cheese.
Dip veal into the egg, then coat with bread crumbs mixture.
Heat half the olive oil and butter in a large saucepan. Cook the veal scallopinis (2 at a time so as not to crowd the pan) for about 2 minutes on each side or until light brown.
Pour the tomato sauce into the pan and place the veal on top. Sprinkle with the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cook covered for about 20 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly and the cheese has melted.

Serve with pasta and more cheese.

Buon appetito!