Monday night schnitzel

Schnitzel!   I thought stuff like this was mysteriously made in back rooms at fancy restaurants by immaculately clad chefs in white toques. 

But tonight it magically appeared in my kitchen via a NYtimes recipe that got passed my way. 

Actually, I've made it a few times before - Pork Schnitzel.  Thin, horizontally sliced then pounded boneless pork, dredged, bathed and coated in masa, egg and panko, then sautéed quickly in butter and oil to a crisp and juicy  golden brown. 

But yesterday while fully intending to ask my butcher to do the slice and pound thing with some pork, I spied some incredibly thin veal scaloppini and jumped on it and thought it would be a fast easy, yet elegant meal for a Monday night.

And it was:

I love the process of first running the veal through the flour until it's ghostly white and dry feeling to the touch, then drowning it in the beaten eggs till it's yellow/pink and moist, then lastly, dipping and coating it in the crunchy, savory panko until it's dressed and gaudy.  Finally transferring it to the fridge to let it cool down and let the panko bond to it a bit.  Better living through chemistry.

The cooking is so simple that it's almost silly.

A few tbs of butter and a glop of oil, heated until it's glistening  (the recipe's hyperbole, not mine) then a fast sauté - maybe 4 mins per side until it's a perfect golden brown.

Kaboom that's it. 

Well,  not entirely.  Once the veal is out of the skillet and the excess grease down the drain, a glug of some white wine  unsticks the skillet and loosens the charred bits  (FROND!) then in goes a half a cup of butter,  a tbs or two of capers and some fresh thyme sprigs from the garden simmered until it too is a nutty brown mixture of fragrant heaven. 

Pour a bit of that over the crispy crackly veal -  and some over the wild rice too that you thoughtfully have simmering on another burner and a fantastic, but remarkable simple meal is served.   Best Monday night feast ever.