Fricandó recipe, the Catalan veal braise with wild mushrooms

This fricandó recipe follows the Catalan classic: floured veal slices braised with an onion sofregit, wine and dried moixernons, then bound with a picada of almonds, garlic and parsley.

Fricandó is a city dish, first printed in the early 18th century in friar Josep Orri's cookbook for beginners and barely changed since. In Barcelona, Can Culleretes, open since 1786, still serves it, with artichokes. The classic mushroom is the moixernó, a spring mushroom dried for the rest of the year; many packets sold under that name hold cama-secs, fairy ring mushrooms, which work as well.

It also fits the week's news: Slow & Low is closing its Michelin-starred dining room to focus on the traditional tapas of Bar Canyí.

The picada goes in at the end, while it can still thicken without dulling the garlic.

Ingredients

• 700 g veal llata (shoulder) or topside, in 5 mm slices
• 40 g dried moixernons or cama-secs
• 30 g plain flour
• 80 ml olive oil
• 2 large onions, finely chopped
• 1 ripe tomato, grated
• 1 bay leaf
• 150 ml dry white wine, or 100 ml vi ranci
• 400 ml veal or chicken stock
• 15 toasted almonds
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 slice of fried bread
• 1 small bunch of parsley
• Salt and black pepper

Method

1. Soak the mushrooms in 500 ml warm water for 1 hour, then strain the water through kitchen paper: it holds much of their flavour, and the grit stays behind.
2. Season the veal and dust it lightly with flour. Floured meat browns faster and later thickens the sauce; too heavy a coat turns it pasty.
3. Heat the oil in a wide clay cassola and brown the slices in batches, 1 minute per side. A crowded pan steams the meat; the brown film on the base is the backbone of the sauce.
4. Lower the heat and cook the onions with a pinch of salt for 25 minutes, scraping the base, until deep golden. The salt draws out water that lifts that film into the sofregit.
5. Add the tomato and bay leaf for 5 minutes, then the wine; boil for 2 minutes to cook off the raw alcohol.
6. Return the veal with the mushrooms, 300 ml of their water and stock almost to cover. Cover and braise at the barest simmer for 50 minutes; a hard boil toughens thin slices before their connective tissue melts.
7. Pound the garlic with a pinch of salt, then the almonds, bread and parsley; the salt grinds the garlic, the bread gives body.
8. Stir in the picada and cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Added late, it thickens the sauce while the garlic and parsley stay fresh; an hour in the pot would dull them.

Autumn mushrooms, wine and the day after

From late September, 300 g of fresh rovellons (saffron milk caps) or camagrocs can replace dried ones: sauté them separately until dry and add them for the last 15 minutes so they keep their bite, with stock instead of soaking water.

Fricandó is better the next day. Pour a young Garnatxa from the Empordà or Terra Alta.