Veal cacciatora stew, grandma’s recipe — a meat main course that is easy to make, tender and delicious, suitable for the whole family. Today I talk about a classic of home cooking from moms and grandmothers that everyone loves and to make it you need very few ingredients: spezzatino! Meat stew can be made in many ways: in Sicily, for example, it is prepared with potatoes and is also called Carne a grassato, but the same dish can be varied in a thousand ways, like the veal stew with peas and potatoes, or the classic version with just peas. You can also change the type of meat used — replacing beef with chicken or turkey reduces cooking times — or use pork: there are many “spezzatino” recipes. The recipe for the white cacciatora-style spezzatino is simple and within everyone’s reach, but you need to know how to choose the right cut of meat, seal the meat by browning it in the soffritto and, above all, respect the long cooking time: these are all essential factors to obtain tender, succulent and delicious beef or veal bites. Follow me in the kitchen — we’ll prepare grandma’s hunter-style stew, different from the Roman cacciatora stew, but equally good! Before we go to the kitchen, if you want to stay updated on my new recipes you can follow my Facebook page and my Instagram profile.

Ingredients to make the cacciatora-style white stew

2 lb 10 oz veal (or beef stew meat)
1 small carrot (small)
1 celery stalk
3.5 oz onion
to taste extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 glass white wine
to taste salt
1 sprig rosemary
4 leaves bay leaves

Tools

Pot
Stove

Preparation

For this recipe you can use either beef or veal. Veal is from cattle under 12 months of age, while beef is from cattle older than 24 months, usually castrated. Veal is more tender and lean, while beef is more flavorful and fattier. I love both, but in this case I used beef.

To make the white cacciatora-style stew, prepare a soffritto of celery, carrots and onion and let it soften in a good splash of olive oil. Add the meat and sear it to seal and develop flavor over high heat.
Then pour in the wine and allow the alcohol to evaporate. Add the rosemary and bay leaves, season with salt and put the lid on. Cook over the lowest heat on a small burner for 2½–3 hours — it all depends on the size of the meat pieces. Add a little water only if needed. When the meat is tender, turn off the stove and let it rest for about ten minutes: our stew is ready to be enjoyed.