Involtinis

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 8 people, you will need:

• 1 4 escalopes of veal
• 2 4 slices ham
• 3 1 bunch parsley
• 4 1 garlic clove
• 5 100 g Comté cheese
• 6 300 ml liquid cream
• 7 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 8 fine (or table) salt
• 9 pepper
• 10 a little sage (optional)
• Total weight: 1,055 grams

Times:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
1 hour 40 min.	1 hour 15 min.	2 hours 55 min.

Step by step recipe

1	Chop 1 bunch parsley and 1 garlic clove (from which you have removed the shoot), and mix together.
2	Prepare 4 escalopes of veal by removing all skin and nerves if any. You should aim to get, as far as possible, rectangles of about 10 by 5 cm. It's not vital for the rectangles to be exact, as they'll be rolled and tied up eventually.
3	Spread out a slice of ham in front of you.
4	Put a piece of veal on top.
5	Trim the ham around the veal, then turn the lot over. You will then have the veal with ham on top.
6	Prepare all the escalopes and ham like this.
7	Take a veal/ham rectangle, salt and pepper its surface, place a tablespoon of parsley/garlic mixture along one edge, then cover with grated cheese.
8	Now comes the tricky bit - the rolling: Start with the aid of knife blade or metal spatula.
9	Continue with your fingers.
10	Rolling...
11	...quite tightly.
12	Until you get a small roll.
13	Tie up roll to prevent it from opening during cooking. You can use cocktail sticks (toothpicks) but it's less effective than string.
14	Conitnue like this with all the veal/ham rectangles. If you are not planning to use them the same day, freeze the involtinis raw.
15	For cooking, take large pan and add 3 tablespoons olive oil over a high heat. When oil is hot, add involtinis and fry until golden brown on each side. Please note that this first operation is not really to cook them: it's just to give them a good colour.
16	This is messy because the hot oil spits a lot, so you can put an aluminum foil lid over 2/3 of pan to contain this. But you should not completely cover the pan at this stage, otherwise the steam generated will stop involtinis browning.
17	When involtinis are fully browned, put a lid ont the pan and simmer over a low heat for one hour or more.
18	After this time remove lid and add 300 ml liquid cream. Scrape bottom of pan well with a spatula after adding cream, to collect delicious cooking juices and incorporate them.
19	Allow to cook for 10 more minutes, until cream thickens. You can serve with rice for example. Foot-note: Each guest should untie the string of his involtini, or you can do it with scissors before serving.

Remarks

Ask your butcher for escalopes as thin as he can make.
For a more Italian taste, you can add some fresh sage with the parsley, and if possible use smoked ham.

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