Veal Parmagiana for my Dad
Veal Parmagiana made an inglorious but memorable entrance into my family.
Late in 1964, my Dad spent six weeks in Milan on business. He came home with a recipe hand written in Italian on a scrap of paper. The wife of a colleague had served him Veal Parmagiana and he’d enjoyed it so much he’d asked for the recipe.
Dad was able to translate most of the ingredients but was baffled by “sugo di pomodoro”. At that time Dad’s workplace was located in inner Melbourne, home to a large migrant population from Italy, so before long he knew he needed rich Italian tomato sauce.
Dad was able to buy ready crumbed veal schnitzels, locally made Sugodoro sauce and Parmesan cheese at the Victoria Market. He translated prosciutto as ham, so cooked leg ham was sustituted. Dad then made Veal Parmagiana for us. My brother and I loved it, but Mum thought it “foreign.”
While Dad was shopping for ingredients to make us his Veal Parmagiana recipe, he had also bought a head of garlic, by no means a common ingredient in Melbourne in the 1960s. To this day, I remember the domestic uproar when Dad insisted on rubbing a cut clove on his grilled steak. He was forbidden from bringing Italian food into the house after that episode, but time took care of that and just a few years later, we were regularly eating spaghetti Bolognese.
Colloquially known as a “Parma” this dish has been reduced to cheap pub food in Australia, usually greasy deep fried crumbed chicken breast, poorly seasoned passata and oily processed cheese. However Veal Parmagiana made with good cut of meat, lightly crumbed, quickly pan fried then topped with paper thin prosciutto, well seasoned fresh tomato passata and parmagiano reggiano which has been flashed under the grill to brown is mouth wateringly delicious.
My Dad was a Cockney by birth. He clung to the rhyming slang and nonsense speak of his childhood, so Veal Parmagiana became known in our households “veal pyjamas”!!
To serve 4
4 large pieces of veal scallopini
1 egg, whisked with 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup rice flour seasoned with sea salt and pepper
1 cup bread crumbs ( I used GF )
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use grapeseed oil)
4 thin slices of prosciutto
1 1/2 cups thick Italian style tomato sauce, well seasoned
1 cup finely grated Parmagiano Regginano
Lay the pieces of veal on a chopping board, cover with plastic wrap, then pound to an even thickness with a meat mallet.
Coat in flour, dip in egg wash then coat in breadcrumbs. Refrigerate until needed.
Warm the tomato sauce.
Heat the oil in a large sauté pan and quickly brown the crumbed veal. ( don’t worry if the veal is not cook through it will finish under the grill). Remove the veal to your grill pan, lay a slice of prosciutto on each, then top with a generous layer of warm tomato sauce. Sprinkle Parmesan on top.
Grill (broil) the Parmagiana until the cheese is browned. Serve immediately.
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22 comments on “Veal Parmagiana for my Dad”
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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 
This is a big family favourite in our house too. The photos are great…..I think I might make some this week now 🙂
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Enjoy……and happy Christmas from downunder!
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Thank you! I hope Christmas Day isn’t in the forties for you all 🙂
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A great recipe and what warm memories to accompany it. Your Dad sounds ike quite a guy. When I was a boy, Mom gave us our choice of dinners on each of our birthday’s. My choice was always veal parmagiana. To this day, it’s still a favorite and I started smiling as soon as I saw this post’s titl. Thanks for sharing your recipe and a bit of your Dad with us. 🙂
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Warm memories of my Dad come from the heart. He was a foodie way before there was such a thing, influenced by his own father who was raised from a very early age by an Italian step father. Veal pyjamas is still a family favourite and always stimulates reminiscence about my Dad.
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Wonderful recipe Sandra. I love how he brought the recipe home handwritten in Italian. Happy Holidays!
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Thanks Seana, it’s the real deal, and absolutely delicious. Have a wonderful Christmas, I’m spending them in the tropics!
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The tropics?! Incredible! (as I sit here expecting a snow storm to hit any moment now.) I visited Florida a few times during Christmas and I loved seeing the palm trees covered in lights. Enjoy! 🙂
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Now and again, as I’m crushing up garlic for some dish, I wonder how we ever did without it. Lovely story and lovely dish.
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Ah glorious garlic, I wonder how I ever managed without it! That first encounter was certainly memorable!
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Having similar problems accessing your site. Really want to read more… Hope it’s just a technical glitch, easily fixed.
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I hope you can read my post now. Please let me know if you can’t, meanwhile we’ll keep working on refining the site. Thanks for letting me know there was a glitch.
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Perfect! Lovely story.
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Well that’s a relief!! Thanks, not a day goes by that I don’t miss my Dad, he was an extraordinary character!
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Oh Sandra, for some reason I can’t access your blog… And I really want to because you know I just love to read stories that involve moms and dads. Your Parmigiana does look incredibly delish!
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Lidia, sorry for the mess up, hopefully you can access it now, if not please let me know. We are refining the site and all I can do is keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best with each change. Cutting my wonderful followers off makes me feel nervous though! Thanks for letting me know there was an issue. 💐
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I finally got to read that story and what a wonderful memory that must be for you! It all looks so delicious, I’m craving this dish right now! Happy New Year Sandra and all the best in 2014! xoxoxo
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And Happy New Year to you Lidia! My Dad was an adventurous eater for an Englishman. His father had the influence of an Italian step father from a very early age to whom we all give a big hearty thanks!
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I love veal pyjamas, oops, I mean veal parmagiana! 😀 ))) I can see why your Dad liked it so much that her brought home the recipe. I rally like what you have done here, with prosciutto, Italian style tomato sauce and cheese.
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Thanks Fae, as you know Homemade with love is always best!!
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Oh what a wonderful memory! I am so happy your shared the story about Veal Pyjamas, this was such a fun read, and it is such a delicious dish when properly made, as you did!
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Thanks Darya, it was a post from the heart!
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