Veal Saltimbocca
Veal cooked with prosciutto, sage and white wine is an Italian classic which makes an appearance at our dinner table annually when veal is reasonably priced and the sage bush has fresh young growth on its tips.
I learned the benefits of folding the escalope to encase the prosciutto and sage years ago. Aside from keeping the ingredients contained making the saltimbocca easier to handle, the doubled slice of lean veal is far less prone to drying out.
Australian legislation does not allow for calves to be cruelly confined in crates. Our veal is pale pink in colour and sourced from local dairy herds’ unwanted young males, colloquially known as bobby veal.
I served crisp roasted potatoes, baked mushrooms and tomato quarters with garlicky sautéed spinach for greens making our delicious Saltimbocca a feast.
4 veal escalopes
2 slices prosciutto, halved
6 sage leaves
1/4 cup plain flour ( I used rice flour)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
20g butter
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
2 tablespoons stock
125 ml white wine
Lay the veal out flat on a board. Cover it with plastic wrap and pound to an even thickness with a meat mallet. If the escalopes very big cut them into manageable pieces. (I halved mine)
Lay a piece of prosciutto and a sage leaf on half of each piece of veal, then fold the meat over to enclose. Give each parcel a tap with the mallet to seal.
Toss the saltimbocca in flour.
Gently heat the oil and butter, add the veal and lightly brown. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, parsley and garlic then flip and brown the other side.
Add the stock and white wine, bring to the boil then simmer for a few minutes.
Transfer the meat to a serving platter, reduce the sauce further if necessary then spoon over the meat.
Serves 6
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28 comments on “Veal Saltimbocca”
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Please Pass the Recipe by Sandra Gay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Please Pass the Recipe 
Reblogged this on Help! My Teenager has Coeliac Disease.
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That looks so delicious! Great recipe!
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Thanks, it was simple and delicious!
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This looks delicious and it would be a real treat to sit down to the dinner you prepared in that last photo. Mom left us a cookbook with fragments of recipes, saltimbocca being one of them. Whenever I consider trying to recreate her recipe, veal is priced sky high. Truth is I don’t shop for veal frequently enough to see if it’s on sale because of the way veal is raised here. I tend to avoid that section of the meat display. I totally agree with the legislation banning those veal crates and wish we had it here.
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Thanks John, I don’t prepare Saltimbocca very often, but enjoy it when I do. Ethical food production is high on what influences my choice of food too. Fortunalety, in Australia, wide open spaces and relatively low demand keeps factory farming practices to a minimum.
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I love saltimbocca and make them quite often. Strictly speaking, if you roll up saltimbocca they are no longer called saltimbocca but involtini di vitello (veal rolls) in Italy.There is also a difference in flavor as saltimbocca is cooked first on the prosciutto side, which flavors the butter and thus the sauce. Italians would probably not agree with the parsley either. But that’s just Italians — I’m sure your ‘involtini’ are great 🙂
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Thanks!! 😀
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I like the way you folded your veal for this dish. I’ll have to try it that way.
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Thanks Karen, it makes for easier handling.
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Oh, blast from the past for sure! I haven’t had this meal in ages. Yours looks spectacular! Oh, now I want some!
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LOL, thanks I seem to be living in the past right now!
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What a blast from the past. Thanks for the memories.
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An absolute pleasure!
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Beautiful!
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Thanks. Mimi, it was delicious!
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I love veal saltimbocca. This looks delicious. 🙂
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Thanks, it was!
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A real favourite of mine – had not thought about it for ages so thank you for reminding me! This is a great version.
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It is a simple recipe, always tasty. I often get reminded by blog posts of dishes that have not appeared on the dinner table for a while, so happy to oblige on that score. Enjoy!
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Spectacular! Lovely meal.
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Thanks!
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Yum, this is really my kind of meal. My mother cooked a lot with veal, but I rarely use it. This dish is a great one for me to go and get some veal (and of course risotto rice). Oh, that;s what I’ll do… make veal saltimbocca and serve it with risotto!
Mwah!
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Veal Saltimbocca would be delicious with a simple risotto, spinach, or saffron perhaps. Substitute the wine with extra stock and perhaps just a teaspoon of lemon for the acidity. Enjoy the recipes Fae, and I look forward to your risotto exploits. 😀
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that looks wonderful, and definitely something I would love to make. I’m not a huge fan of sage, but I think that’s because I’ve over used it in the past. I do have a question, what’s the idea behind pounding this cut? evening out the thickness of the cut?
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Yes,you pound the meat to even out the thickness, but as veal is so lean it needs to cook quickly to prevent it from drying out so the thinner the better. I agree that sage has been over used in the past, always makes me think of cheap packaged dried herbs, but a few fresh leaves used discretely only leave a hint of flavour. I think you’d be happy with sage as it’s used here. Thanks for giving me the chance to reassure you, I encourage you to give Veal Saltimbocca a try!
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and I will! thanks so much for the tip!
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Sage works extremely well with prosciutto, but only fresh sage. Dried sage has a medicinal flavor that I don’t care for.
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I agree totally!
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