Mijoté de veau aux légumes

As I do three or four times a year, I bought a rolled-and-tied veal shoulder roast at the supermarket a few days ago. I thought about making the stew called blanquette de veau, but this time I decided to cook the roast whole rather than untying it and cutting it up into smaller pieces. The shoulder is a cut of veal that needs to be simmered or braised in liquid.

I had carrots, turnips, mushrooms, onions, and potatoes in the fridge or in the cellar, so there was my dish. Rather than cook the veal without browning it first, as I do for a blanquette, I first gave it a nice crust and color in some oil and butter in a big pot on high heat. Then I put it on to simmer in white wine and broth (veal here, but vegetable or chicken broth would be good too). Use just enough liquid to nearly cover the meat and vegetables — the meat and vegetables will also release some liquid as they cook.

The carrots, onions, and yellow turnips went into the pot with the roast, the liquids, a couple of bay leaves and some salt, pepper, and allspice. Start it on top of the stove, and then put the pot into a slow oven (160ºC/325ºF) for a couple of hours. The white (purple-skinned) turnips, which cook quickly, and the mushrooms wait and get cooked separately before going into the mijoté, along with their flavorful cooking liquid, when the roast and other vegetables are done.

When everything is basically cooked, I mix a couple of spoonfuls of potato starch (you could use corn starch or no thickener at all) into three-quarters of a cup of cream. You can stir some of the hot veal broth into the cream and starch mixture to loosen it up, and then stir that into the stew to make a smooth, slightly thickened and creamy gravy.

It turned out to be really good. It's the kind of food I like. The meat is tender and succulent, the vegetables tender but not overcooked. Oh, I also put a lot of dried oregano into the cooking liquid because Walt had just cut and dried oregano leaves from our garden. And I garnished the servings of the stew with some fresh parsley that we have growing in pots on the terrace. Serve with wine and bread.