Veal Scaloppini with Artichokes and Capers

Veal scaloppini is a thin, boneless slice of veal, taken from the leg, which cooks very quickly. To this dish I have added artichokes and capers. Capers add a salty, olive like flavor to the dish. Lemon juice offers a tangy kick.

Photography by Robert Demetrius

For the veal scaloppini you will need:

1 pound veal scaloppini, 8 pieces

½ cup flour, for dredging

5 tablespoons olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 tablespoons capers

4 artichokes cut in quarters

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2/3 cup white wine

4 tablespoons butter

¾ teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper

For the spinach, you will need:

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt & pepper

This dish is another quick one, so I like to prepare all my ingredients beforehand.

Place a large skillet and a large pot on the burner. The skillet will be used for the scaloppini and the pot is used for the spinach. When doing spinach, I like to use a large pot because it’s so much easier to toss.

Take the veal out of the fridge about 10 minutes before seasoning, just to take off the chill.

Lemons, Capers and Artichokes

Mince 4 cloves of garlic and juice a lemon so that the 2 tablespoons of lemon juice are readily available. I used canned artichokes that were already quartered. Just make sure that they are properly drained because we don’t need any brine in our dish. If you have whole artichokes, just quarter them. Make sure that the 4 tablespoons of pickled capers are also well drained. Then measure 2/3 cups of white wine. A dry wine would work best with this dish.

Coating Veal Scaloppini with Flour

Start by seasoning the veal with ½ teaspoon salt and ground black pepper. In a shallow bowl or plate, mix ½ cup of flour and ¼ teaspoon of salt to dredge the scaloppinis. 

Shaking off Excess Flour

After coating each scaloppini, shake off the excess flour.

Placing Flour Coated Scaloppini in the Skillet

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Once nice and warm, pour 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the skillet, making sure that it’s nice and hot, before adding the scaloppinis coated in flour. 

Make sure not to put all the pieces in at one time. Depending on the size of the scaloppinis you may have to do it in two batches. You don’t want the meat layering on top of each other because you want the pieces of meat to brown evenly on each side. 

Browning Scaloppinis

Brown each side for about a minute each. Once the first batch is done, remove from the skillet and start on the second batch. Add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil in the skillet once you have started the second batch. 

Scaloppini

Once the second batch is done, remove from the skillet.

Garlic, Artichokes, Capers, White Wine and Lemons

Turn the heat down to medium low, adding the minced garlic, lemon juice, capers, artichokes and dry white wine and simmer for about 1½ minutes before returning the meat back into the skillet, making sure that it’s nicely tucked underneath the artichokes, adding 4 tablespoons of butter, so that the sauce can reduce and thicken. 

Veal Scaloppini with Artichokes, Capers, White Wine and Lemon Juice

Adding Butter to the Dish

Wilting Spinach

As the sauce is being reduced, start heating the pot, which is already on the burner with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Once heated, toss in 2 bags of spinach or 18 ounces and continue to toss until wilted. Season with salt and ground pepper.

Not a lot of seasoning is needed for the spinach, as the scaloppini is already so flavorful. The meat and sauce should be finished and ready to be plated.

Veal Scaloppini with Artichokes and Capers

Take a ¼ of the spinach and plate, and then place 2 scaloppinis on top of the spinach and dress with 4 artichoke quarters and sauce. Voilà! Here is another easy yet interesting dish. Top it off with a glass of white wine. Serves 4. Enjoy!