Whether it’s chicken, pork or veal, a schnitzel is that rare combination: deeply comforting yet surprisingly elegant. In my book, that makes it a great summer dinner dish, especially if served with a bright tomato salad (I’m not going to let Yotam have all the fun this week). Follow that glorious plateful with an absurdly impressive yet oh-so-simple peach galette: and if it seems a bit thrown together, that’s largely because it has.
Veal schnitzel with rainbow tomato salad
Schnitzel is a real hit with children, though for them you might want to go easy on the chilli. Serves four to six.
4 veal escalopes (about 150g each)
2 tbsp plain flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 eggs, beaten
8 tbsp panko breadcrumbs (or other breadcrumbs)
Finely grated parmesan (optional)
20g butter
For the salad
6 plum-sized tomatoes (a mix of colours ideally), cut into fat wedges
1 big handful cherry tomatoes (again, a mix of colours), halved
1 handful each fresh tarragon and mint leaves, roughly chopped
1 habanero or scotch bonnet chilli (or to taste), deseeded and finely chopped
½ red onion, peeled and finely sliced
A few pinches golden caster sugar
Juice of 2 limes
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Lay each piece of veal between two slices of greaseproof paper and bash out a bit with a rolling pin, to flatten and thin them. Season the flour generously and spread out on a large plate. Mix the breadcrumbs with the parmesan (if using) and spread out on another large plate. Beat the eggs in a large, shallow bowl.
Toss each piece of veal in the flour, the egg and finally in the crumbs, then refrigerate for an hour or two (or overnight, if you want to get ahead) – this helps to set the crumbs.
Half an hour before you want to eat, gently toss the tomatoes with the other salad ingredients (start with half a chilli and see how hot you want to go), and season generously. This will give the flavours time to mingle and the salad to come up to room temperature.
Heat a heavy-based frying pan on a medium-high flame and add half the butter. Fry the veal in two batches until golden on the outside and cooked through – three to four minutes a side. Alternatively, fry the schnitzels ahead of time for a minute a side, until golden, and finish in a hot oven for 10 minutes just before you eat. Serve with the salad and perhaps quinoa or new potatoes tossed in chopped mint and butter.
Peach, vanilla and basil galette
This stunning pudding is deceptively easy, because the rough, hotchpotch shape hides a multitude of sins. Simply throw together the quick pastry, assemble the pie and bake – you’ll be amazed by the result. Serves six.
For the pastry
170g self-raising flour
1 tsp caster sugar
½ tsp sea salt
120g cold, unsalted butter cut into cubes
4 tbsp ice-cold water
For the galette
8 basil leaves, roughly chopped
60g golden caster sugar, plus 1 tbsp extra
Seeds scraped from ½ vanilla pod
5 peaches, peeled, stoned and quartered
3 tbsp ground almonds
1½ tbsp plain flour
To finish
1 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp granulated sugar
For the pastry, put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor, and blitz briefly. Add the butter and pulse for a few moments, until the butter is only half incorporated – for gloriously flaky pastry, you need lumps of butter the size of small chickpeas. Add the cold water a tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each addition, until the mix begins to clump, then tip out on to a clean work surface and push together into a disc. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least an hour. Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6. Bash the basil in a pestle and mortar, then add the 60g caster sugar and vanilla seeds, and carry on bashing until you have what looks like green sugar. Transfer to a bowl, add the peaches, toss and set aside.
Roll the pastry into a roughly 25cm circle and transfer to a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Mix the ground almonds, flour and remaining caster sugar, and sprinkle over the rolled-out dough, leaving a 3cm clear border around the edge. Pile the sugary basil and peach mix inside the borders of the pastry and bring up the sides of the pastry, crimping and folding them round the fruit. Brush the pastry with the melted butter, sprinkle over the granulated sugar and bake for 30 minutes, rotating the tart from time to time to ensure an even bake, until the pastry is golden and the fruit’s slightly coloured. Leave to cool slightly, and serve with cream or vanilla ice-cream.
And for the rest of the week…
Schnitzels always create a bit of a mess – the flour, egg and crumbs never go where they’re meant to – so I often make more and stash the extra schnitzels in the freezer. They’ll feel like a real gift when, tired and hungry, you remember them on a rushed Thursday night. Just defrost, and roast or fry. Tomato salad apart, schnitzel goes brilliantly with crushed new potatoes (oven-roast until crisp), or with avocado and lettuce salad, or boiled corn on the cob, or spinach puree. Make extra pastry, too, because that also freezes well. And if you have a surfeit of unripe peaches, worry not: they are really good sliced and tossed in sugar, olive oil, mint and a splash of wine vinegar.
• Thomasina Miers is co-owner of the Wahaca group of Mexican restaurants.
