Fricandó de Ternera con Moixernons

Ingredients

• 800 g veal shoulder (llata), cut into 1 cm slices
• 30 g dried moixernons (St George's mushrooms)
• 4 tbsp plain flour, for dusting
• 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 large onions, very finely chopped
• 3 ripe tomatoes, coarsely grated, skins discarded
• 500 ml veal or beef stock
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 20 blanched almonds, toasted
• 10 hazelnuts, toasted
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 slice of dry bread, fried in olive oil
• Salt and black pepper

Before you cook

• Soak the dried moixernons in 300 ml of warm water for thirty minutes, then lift them out and keep the soaking liquid.
• Strain the mushroom soaking water through a paper filter to leave the grit behind.
• Season the veal slices with salt and pepper and dust both sides lightly with flour.
• Chop the onions as finely as you can and grate the tomatoes.
• Toast the almonds and hazelnuts in a dry pan until fragrant, then fry the slice of bread in olive oil until crisp.

Steps

1. Heat four tablespoons of the olive oil in a wide casserole over medium-high heat.
2. Brown the floured veal slices in batches, giving each side about ninety seconds, then lift them onto a plate.
3. Lower the heat, add the remaining two tablespoons of oil and tip in the chopped onions with a pinch of salt.
4. Cook the onions for twenty-five to thirty minutes, stirring regularly, until they collapse into a dark brown jam.
5. Add the grated tomato and cook for ten minutes more until the sofrito is thick and the oil separates at the edges.
6. Return the veal and any resting juices to the pot and turn the slices through the sofrito.
7. Pour in the stock and the strained mushroom water, and add the thyme sprigs and bay leaf.
8. Bring it to a simmer, cover the pot, and cook on the lowest heat for one hour and fifteen minutes.
9. Add the drained moixernons and cook uncovered for a further fifteen minutes.
10. Pound the toasted almonds, hazelnuts, garlic and fried bread in a mortar with a splash of the cooking liquid until you have a rough paste.
11. Stir this picada into the casserole and simmer for five minutes so the sauce tightens and gains body.
12. Taste for salt, remove the bay leaf, and let the fricandó rest off the heat for ten minutes before serving with bread.