Recipe: Veal Cutlets with Balsamic Vinegar (or Pork, Turkey, or Chicken Cutlets)

by John Ryan

Veal Cutlets
with Balsamic Vinegar

or Pork, Turkey, or Chicken Cutlets

Simple, fast, and rather elegant. The cutlets aren't fully breaded (flour, egg, bread crumbs), but simply pressed into bread crumbs.

You need...
30 minutes
Large skillet

1/2 cup bread crumbs
Vegetable oil
2-4 cutlets (plan on about 4 ounces meat per person)
2 tablespoons butter
2 fat garlic cloves, minced
4 leaves fresh sage, chopped
2/3 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
optional garnish: Parmesan cheese shavings

1. Spread the bread crumbs on a piece of waxed paper. Press both sides of the meat into the crumbs.

2. Heat you skillet over medium-high heat. Add a little oil and cook the cutlets on each side until they are lightly browned. (You'll need a little more oil to brown the second side.) Set the meat on a plate.

3. Stir the butter, garlic, and sage into the skillet. When the garlic aroma fills your kitchen (almost immediately), add the chicken broth and sugar. Let it simmer down to what looks like 1/3 cup. Add the vinegar and simmer a minute more. Pour the sauce over the cutlets and serve. If you want, use a potato peeler to make Parmesan shavings over each cutlet.

Notes on Cutlets:
If you buy veal scallopini they will already be pounded thin for you. If you are using pork or chicken breast, you should pound the meat to a uniform thickness. Put the meat between two sheets of plastic wrap and gently pound. Don't try to get the meat too thin, the thickness of the New Yorker magazine is about right.