Parma, Italy -- what was I eating and how do you make it?

I just saw an episode of No Reservations that triggered a memory of a dish I had long ago in Parma, Italy. I remember the dish vividly -- but not its name. When the waiter said "vitello," in describing the day's special, that was all I needed to know -- I love veal. My Italian wasn't good enough to pick up many other details, and I'm not sure I knew the name of the dish even as I ordered it.

What I was served was a slice of rolled veal that was about 3/4 of an inch thick and almost as big as the center area of a dinner plate. The core of the large meat roll was about two inches across, and was mostly Parmigiano, as one might expect in Parma. The liquid on the plate was clear, suggesting that it had been poached in broth. It was served with a sensational tomato relish. The meal was simply amazing -- and clearly memorable, as this was a few decades ago. But with the memory of that meal recently triggered, I suddenly thought of the amazing resource that is LTHForum, and hoped that someone here would know what it was I had all those years ago -- and maybe have a recipe for it. (Almost every recipe I've ever found in searching the Internet for veal rolls has been individual, egg roll-sized meat roll-ups, and that's not at all what this was like.)

Thanks for any leads.

Valigini are rolls of veal (sometimes beef and sometimes also cabbage leaves are used instead of slices of meat) made in Emilia-Romagna, including Parma, where they are thought of as a local specialty...the filling includes ground meat, eggs, breadcrumbs and a good bit of parmesan cheese... they're browned in a pan and then finished by letting them cook in broth...

Antonius

I swear there must be some religious order out there wherein "Antonius" is he patron saint of eating well.

zoid wrote:I swear there must be some religious order out there wherein "Antonius" is he patron saint of eating well.

Ordo Trium Felicitatularum.

(God, that's bad. Tony, please fix. Romanes eunt domus).

Grazie mille, Antonius.

I knew the answer was out there -- and am not really surprised that it was you that had it.

Any chance you have a recipe or source for a recipe that you can recommend?

Prego, Cynthia, my pleasure...

Sorry for the delayed response but I was away form the computer for the most part over the weekend... Your memory of the dish was so detailed and the description so clear, I knew what you were talking about straightaway...

I myself do not make the specifically Emiliano version of this dish but if one thinks about it, that is but one local variant on the theme of stuffed meat rolls that is consumed across wide portions of Europe... the related dishes I make are the Genovese version, as well as Flemish and German versions... Anyway...

Regarding how to make the specific version known as valigi — little valises — the internet obviously provides an array of recipes but one is never sure with many of them to what degree they are being faithful to the established local tradition... Having looked at a number of recipes in Italian on the internet and one from my library, I think this is the basic notion...

The central ingredient: slices of veal (or 'vitellone') or beef (cut from the 'polpa')
The filling: ground veal, ground chicken, prosciutto crudo, eggs, breadcrumbs, grated parmesan, nutmeg, pepper & salt.
Mince, pound or otherwise render the ingredients for the filling into a paste. Smear the paste onto one side of each of the slices of meat. Roll the meat slices up and either tie them or secure them with toothpicks. Brown the meat rolls in a pan with a little butter and olive oil. When the browning is complete, add some real veal or beef broth to the pan and let the rolls simmer until they're done (maybe a half hour or so).

Now, you mentioned that the restaurant served the rolls with a little tomato relish and that strikes me as a creative touch of their own — not a terribly uncommon one, I suspect, but it's a nice little touch that so far as I can tell, stands outside the basic recipe. This time of year would be a good one to make such a relish, with the local tomatoes appearing...

***

@zoid — ... Thank you for the most kind words but a genuine saint I am not, though I do claim at times to be a holy man... Here I am spreading the Word with the help of my pet pig, Heliogabulus:


Antonijs predikt bij den Minneboom. / Antoine prêche près de l'Arbre d'Amour.
Antonius preaches by the Love-tree. Brabant, IX.2005
This originally appeared in a very, very old post...

@Santander — Nice Monty Python link!... ( ... say no more)...

Antonius

Having gone through The Silver Spoon and Culinaria Italy with no success, it's lovely to have finally found someone who at least knows what I'm talking about.

Thank you again, Antonius.

Antonius,
This puts me in mind of the classic involtini which are fairly similar to the recipe you outlined above. A first cousin? (And I guess I've been here too long: I saw the picture and immediately got confused. "That belongs on another thread," thought I. Indeed. trapanese ... delizioso

Greetings, Gypsy Boy!

Yes, indeed... one town's valigini are another town's involtini... or uccelletti or oiseaux sans têtes or blinde vinken, und so weiter und so fort... a very large family of dishes from across broad swathes of Europe... The Parmese version discussed here is very much in the mainstream... simple, elegant...

A

P.S. Definitely time for some trapanese!