Veal Chops with Ratatouille Stuffing & Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Veal Chops with Ratatouille Stuffing & Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Beef, Veal
Dinner Party, Main Dish

Serves 2

Here’s a simple but delicious way to prepare what is undeniably a “special occasion” cut of meat. The brilliant vermilion-red sauce looks spectacular on the plate, and the whole dish is a show-stopper, but it’s not much harder than any weeknight meal.

However, you’ll want a very sharp small knife to help you cut the pouch in the chops.

Ingredients #

  • The Veal: #

    • 2 1” thick rib veal chops, trimmed and frenched
    • 1 tbsp vegetable oil

  • For the stuffing: #

    • 1 small onion, minced
    • 2 tbsp olive oil
    • 2 tbsp minced shallot
    • 2 cloves garlic, minced
    • 1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/4” dice
    • 1/4 lb. Eggplant, cut into 1/4” dice (about a cup)
    • 1 roma tomato, seeded and cut into 1/4” dice
    • 1 tsp Herbes de Provence
    • 1/4 tsp dried sage
    • 1/2 tsp dried basil
    • 1/2 tbsp minced fresh parsley
    • 1/2 tsp salt

  • For the sauce: #

    • 1 jar roasted red bell peppers, thoroughly drained
    • 2 tbsp olive oil
    • 1 tsp lemon juice
    • 1 tsp balsamic or sherry vinegar
    • 1 tsp paprika
    • Cayenne pepper to taste

  • To Serve: #

    • Finely chopped fresh parsley to garnish

Instructions #

Make the stuffing: #

In a large skillet, cook the onions and shallots in the olive oil over medium low heat until softened. Add the garlic, bell pepper, and eggplant, and cook the mixture, stirring frequently, for 6-8 minutes or until the eggplant is softened. Stir in the remaining ingredients plus black pepper to taste. Combine well and cook a few minutes more. Set aside and allow to cool.

Make the sauce: #

In a blender, blend the drained peppers with the rest of the ingredients plus 1 tbsp of water and salt and black pepper to taste. Transfer to a small saucepan and set aside, covered and off the heat.

Stuff the chops: #

Be sure that the chops are very well-chilled (this procedure is easier of the meat is firm). Using a sharp paring knife or boning knife, cut a 1.5”-long slit on the fat side of each chop, and then cut a pocket in the inside of the chop by moving the knife back and forth carefully through the incision. You don’t want to mangle this expensive cut of meat, but if the pouch is too small you won’t be able to get much stuffing into the chop.

Preheat your oven to 475 F.

Stuff each chop with as much stuffing as you can (ideally, half the mixture, but that’s unlikely). Secure each pocket with a wooden toothpick. Brush the chops with a bit of oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast them in a roasting pan or small rimmed sheet pan, basting them with any juices they put out, for about 7 minutes on each side. The flesh may still be slightly pink near the bone, and that’s fine — remember that veal is beef, not pork. Let them rest for 5 minutes or so.

Warm the sauce over low heat while you warm your plates in a very low oven.

To serve, spoon a generous pool of the warmed sauce onto a warm plate, set the chop ever it, and sprinkle with finely minced parsley. If you have enough of the filling left, carefully spoon a neat, football-shaped spoonful of the mixture alongside each chop.

Sauteed Baby Artichokes are a suitably elegant side dish.