Light Veal Orloff

📝 Ingredients

• 1 kg tied veal roasting joint (topside or rump)
• 500 g button mushrooms
• 2 shallots
• 4 slices cooked ham (about 160 g)
• 80 g grated Emmental (50 g for the filling, 30 g for the topping)
• 400 ml semi-skimmed milk
• 30 g plain flour
• 15 g unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil (½ for the roast, ½ for the duxelles)
• 1 chicken stock cube + 150 ml hot water
• 1 kg waxy potatoes
• 4 sprigs fresh parsley
• Salt, black pepper, nutmeg

🍴 Utensils

• Ovenproof casserole dish
• Frying pan
• 2 saucepans
• Baking dish
• Whisk
• Large, very sharp knife

📖 Steps

1. Take the roast out of the fridge 30 minutes beforehand and preheat the oven to 180 °C. Season the roast with salt and pepper. In the casserole dish, heat ½ tbsp oil over a high heat and brown the roast for 8 minutes, turning it on all sides, until well coloured.
2. Dissolve the stock cube in 150 ml hot water and pour this stock into the bottom of the casserole dish. Cover and roast for 35 minutes: the centre should stay pink (55 °C core temperature), as the roast will finish cooking during the final gratin stage. Leave it to rest for 10 minutes on a board and keep the juices.
3. While it cooks, wipe the mushrooms clean (without soaking them) and chop them finely with the shallots. Cook them in the frying pan with ½ tbsp oil for 10 to 12 minutes over a high heat, stirring, until all their liquid has evaporated and the duxelles is dry. Season with salt and pepper and add the chopped parsley.
4. Peel the potatoes, cut them into evenly sized pieces and cover with cold salted water in a saucepan. When you're ready to stuff the roast, bring to the boil and cook for 20 minutes, until the tip of a knife slides in without resistance, then drain.
5. For the béchamel, melt the butter over a medium heat in the second saucepan, add the flour and whisk for 1 minute without letting it colour. Pour in the cold milk all at once while whisking, then cook for 5 minutes, whisking constantly, until the sauce thickens and coats the spoon.
6. Season the béchamel with salt, pepper and a little grated nutmeg, then stir in 2 tbsp of the roasting juices. Turn the oven up to 200 °C. Remove the string from the roast and cut it into 1.5 cm slices without cutting all the way through: stop 1 cm from the bottom so they stay attached.
7. Place the roast in the baking dish. Into each cut, slip a spoonful of duxelles, a piece of folded ham (each slice cut into three) and a pinch of Emmental, 50 g in total. Press the roast together between your hands to reshape it.
8. Cover the roast completely with the béchamel, sprinkle with the remaining 30 g of Emmental and pour the rest of the juices around it. Bake for 20 minutes at 200 °C, until golden on top and the sauce is bubbling at the edges.
9. Serve by cutting between the slices so each portion keeps its filling, with the piping hot potatoes, coated in the sauce from the dish.