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Blanquette de Veau

By · Published · Mains

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Blanquette de veau with carrots, mushrooms and pearl onions in a creamy white sauce, served with rice.

Veal simmered gently with carrots and onion, then finished in a velvety cream sauce with mushrooms and pearl onions. The French Sunday stew that stays pale, made with Canadian stewing veal and 35% cream instead of crème fraîche.

Blanquette de veau is veal simmered gently with carrots, onion and herbs, then finished in a sauce of cream, egg yolk and lemon. It should come to the table pale ivory, smooth and just tangy. It's a dish for a slow afternoon: ninety quiet minutes on the stove, then ten minutes of sauce at the end.

Blanquette is a family dish for me: it was on our table in France, and it's one I keep cooking here. It's also great for meal prep. I make the full pot on a Sunday and eat it through the week, and the sauce is even better on the second day.

Veal is the part that takes planning in Canada, since it's less common in supermarkets than in France. So when I find good stewing veal, I make the whole 1.2 kg and keep the leftovers in the fridge for weekday lunches, or freeze some before the egg yolk goes in.

Which veal do you buy here?

French butchers cut tendron, épaule and flanchet for blanquette. Canadian supermarkets don't cut tendron or flanchet, so ask for boneless veal shoulder, or buy stewing veal in trays. If the butcher has veal breast, add a piece: its gelatin makes the sauce silky.

My pick is milk-fed veal when there's a choice. It's the palest and most tender, which is what a white stew needs. Grain-fed veal is pinker and a little firmer: it works, but the sauce comes out a shade less white.

In Quebec, stewing veal sits in supermarket trays next to the beef. Outside Quebec it's patchier, so plan a call to the butcher counter, or make the chicken-thigh version.

Nothing goes brown

The one mistake that changes the dish is colour. Don't brown anything, not the veal, not the roux, not even the mushrooms. Browning gives you a beige, roasted-tasting stew, which is a good dish but not a blanquette.

Making it in Canada

The 2 French ingredients, and what to buy for them in Canada.

  • Tendron, épaule ou flanchet de veau→Boneless veal shoulder or milk-fed stewing veal

    Shoulder has enough connective tissue to stay moist after 90 minutes of simmering; leaner leg cubes go dry. No veal at all? Use the same weight of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, halved, and simmer them 40 minutes instead of 90. It tastes lighter, but the sauce and method don't change.

    In Quebec, Metro sells Milk Fed Boneless Veal Stewing Cubes in trays of about 400 g, next to grain-fed veal cubes. Outside Quebec, Loblaws and Real Canadian Superstore list a Lamb & Veal section; look there for stewing veal, or ask the butcher counter to order boneless veal shoulder a few days ahead.

  • Crème fraîche→35% whipping cream, plus lemon juice

    Crème fraîche gives blanquette its slight tang. 35% cream has about the same richness, doesn't split when it simmers, and the lemon in the liaison brings back the acidity. Don't use 10% or 15% cream: the sauce turns thin.

    Lactantia 35% Whipping Cream is listed at Voilà (Sobeys), and Sealtest 35% at Walmart. If you see Liberté 40% crème fraîche (250 mL tub, at Metro, IGA or Voilà), use 200 mL of it instead of the cream and taste before adding all the lemon.

    Crème Fraîche in Canada: Which Cream to Buy »

Good to know: Buy white button mushrooms, not cremini: brown mushrooms turn the sauce grey.

Ready to cook?
Blanquette de veau with carrots, mushrooms and pearl onions in a creamy white sauce, served with rice.

Blanquette de Veau

Veal simmered gently with carrots and onion, then finished in a velvety cream sauce with mushrooms and pearl onions. The French Sunday stew that stays pale, made with Canadian stewing veal and 35% cream instead of crème fraîche.

Prep time
30 min
Cook time
2 hr
Total time
2 hr 30 min
Servings
6

Ingredients

Original recipe: 6 servings.

Instructions

  1. Start the veal. Put the veal in a large pot, cover with cold water by 3 cm and bring slowly to a simmer. Skim off the grey foam for 10 minutes: that's what keeps the sauce pale and clean.
  2. Simmer gently. Add the carrots, clove-studded onion, leek, bouquet garni and 1 tsp salt. Simmer very gently, partly covered, for 1½ hours, until the veal is tender when pierced. Never let it boil: boiling makes the veal stringy and the broth cloudy.
  3. Cook the garnish. Meanwhile, melt 10 g butter in a pan over medium-low heat and cook the mushrooms 5 minutes with a little lemon juice, without letting them colour. Add the pearl onions and a ladle of broth and cook 10 minutes, until tender.
  4. Strain. Lift out the veal and carrots and keep them warm. Strain the broth; you need about 750 mL. Keep the rest.
  5. Make the sauce. Melt the remaining 40 g butter in the pot, stir in the flour and cook 2 minutes, stirring, without letting it colour. Whisk in 750 mL hot broth and simmer 10 minutes, until it coats a spoon.
  6. Finish with cream. Stir in the cream and simmer 5 minutes. Take the pot off the heat. Whisk the egg yolk with the rest of the lemon juice and a ladle of sauce, then stir it back in. Don't boil again, or the yolk scrambles.
  7. Combine and serve. Return the veal, carrots, mushrooms and onions to the sauce. Season with salt, white pepper and nutmeg. Serve with rice.

Equipment

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Notes

  • Make it a day ahead up to the end of step 6, but leave out the egg yolk. Reheat gently without boiling, then whisk in the yolk and lemon just before serving.
  • Keeps 3 days in the fridge. To freeze, stop before the egg yolk too, and finish the sauce when you reheat it.
  • For weekday portions, reheat gently in a small pan or at medium power in the microwave, stirring, until steaming hot all the way through, without letting it boil. Health Canada's safe minimum for reheated leftovers is 74°C (165°F).
  • If the sauce is too thin, simmer it a few more minutes before the yolk goes in. If it's too thick, loosen it with a ladle of the leftover broth.
  • One yolk gives a light sauce. Many French cooks use two for this much veal; add the second if you like it richer and a little thicker.
  • Any heavy pot of 5 L or more holds the gentle simmer. An enamelled cast-iron Dutch oven, such as the Henckels 5.2 L or 5.8 L at Costco, is ideal.

Course: Mains · Cuisine: French · Adapted for Canadian kitchens

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Canadian guides

French ingredients and what to buy in Canada »

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