If there’s a dish that screams French, it’s the Blanquette, a white, creamy sauce made with veal broth and a range of classic French herbs. The creamy sauce is made with both a roux and using cream reduction technic, so, just be ready for the amount of fat that’s going to be in this dish. Also, since the blanquette is a ragout of white meat, so if you can’t find veal, you can also use lamb, chicken, and even fish. This recipe serves about 3-4.

You’ll Need:

• 2 lb veal shoulder
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 large onion
• 4 carrot
• 4 cloves
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 bouquet garni (4 stem thyme, 8 stem parsley and 1 bay leaf tied with twine)
• 10-15 pearl onions
• 5 tbsp butter
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 lb white mushrooms
• 1/2 tbsp white pepper
• 3 large egg yolks

How to make this:

1. Blanch the veal first to get rid of all blood, cut them into 1-inch cubes, then cover the veal with cold water, bring to a simmer and cook for 2 minutes, then drain the veal and rinse it under cold water
2. Add the veal to a heavy duty pot with 8 the stock, then add the onion, carrot, garlic and bouquet garni and season with salt, bring to a simmer, cover partially and simmer over medium heat for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Save the veal and broth, you can save the aromatics, but they are usually discarded
3. In a separate saucepan, blanch the pearl onions for 30 seconds. Drain and transfer to a bowl of ice water, then, trim the roots and peel the onions. Then, cook the onion in 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 tbsp butter for about 30 min
4. Melt the butter over low heat, add the flour and whisk until bubbling. Then add the veal broth and bring to a simmer, whisking constantly until it thickens. Then add the mushrooms, season with salt and white pepper and simmer over low heat for another 10 minutes, add in the veal and cover
5. Heat up the cream in a small saucepan over low heat, and stop heat right before it simmers, then whisk the yolks with 1/4 of the cream add to it every time. Stir the cream-yolk mixture into the stew and let it reach simmer, then stop heating
6. Sprinkle with some chopped parsley, serve it with some potato, noodle, rice or bread