HungryForever

VEAL TAIL AND PEA SOUP

This is a perfect case of why you must befriend your butchers and give them a bit of advance warning. They should be able to get you the tails. If they come in dribs and drabs, get your brine bucket out and use it as a holding tank until you have amassed enough tails.

Servings

Ingredients

in veal bonesroasteda hot oven for half an hour
stock vegetables—carrotleek, celery, onion, garlic—roughly chopped
a bundle of parsleythyme and a little rosemary
2in veal tails per personbrined for at least a week, then a good soakfresh water overnight to desalinate
sea salt and black pepper
2pounds fresh peas in their podspodded just before use—or you could apply the theory a wise chef once told me, which was to use fresh when peas are in season and otherwise use frozen

Instructions

Put the roasted veal bones, chopped stock vegetables and bundle of herbs into a pot. Place the tails on top, cover with water and simmer for 3 hours, skimming as you go. Then, using a sharp knife to make sure that the tails are thoroughly cooked, remove gently and put to one side.
Strain the broth and chill it thoroughly. Clarify the broth as described. Return to the heat and check the seasoning. Reintroduce the tails and, at the last moment, add the peas and serve.
Encourage the use of fingers in the picking up of the tails and giving them a good gnaw. This soup is a thing of beauty, with tails and peas bobbing about in a clear broth . . . Ahhh.