Neil Perry’s barbecued veal cutlet with tomato and sage burnt butter
These veal cutlets, served with a creamy potato purée and a green salad, make for a perfect Sunday lunch. The burnt butter, which matches the mild flavour of the veal, has additional piquancy thanks to the olives and anchovies. This sauce also works with a fresh piece of barbecued fish, such as bar cod, hapuku, bass grouper or blue-eye trevalla.
Barbecued veal cutlet with tomato and sage burnt butter. Credit:William Meppem. Styling by Hannah Meppem.
Serves 4
4 x 300g veal cutlets
sea salt
extra virgin olive oil
150g butter
15 sage leaves
12 cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 tsp salted baby capers, rinsed
4 anchovies, chopped
1⁄2 cup pitted black olives
1½ tbsp lemon juice
1. Remove the cutlets from the fridge 1 hour before cooking to allow meat to reach room temperature.
2. Heat the barbecue (or a grill pan) until extremely hot. Season each side of the cutlets with sea salt, drizzle with olive oil and cook one side for about 8 minutes, rotating the cutlets 90 degrees halfway through the cooking time to create a criss-cross pattern. Turn cutlets over and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to rest somewhere warm.
3. Place butter in a saucepan and heat until it begins to foam (to make things easier you could do this on top of the barbecue; just turn the heat down first). At this point, add the sage and crisp the leaves. Then add tomato, capers, anchovy and olives, and take the butter to a nut-brown shade. Squeeze in the lemon juice and season to taste.
4. Spoon the sauce over the cutlets and serve with potato purée and a green salad.
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