Veal, Asparagus and Wild Garlic

This dish screams springtime. Veal escalopes baked over with truffle-infused cheddar cheese served with white asparagus, fresh plucked young wild garlic from the nearby forest made to a pesto sauce and small potatoes. A combination of delicate and powerful flavours that go well together.

I found the Truffle Trove Cheddar from the Snowdonia Cheese Comapany surprisingly in my local supermarket, but it can be also bought online. An extra mature Cheddar enriched with delicate Black Summer truffle.

Ingredients | Serves 4

8	Veal escalopes
4 Tbsp	Kikkoman soy sauce
12	White asparagus
12	small potatoes
1	Truffle Trove Cheddar cheese or normal cheddar
	Salt and pepper for seasoning

	Wild Garlic Pesto Sauce
150 g	Wild garlic leaves
60 g	Pine nuts
60 g	Pecorino cheese
150 ml	Canola oil
½ tsp	Salt

Preparation | Serves 4

First, dab the veal escalopes dry with kitchen paper. Place them in an oven-proof flat dish and spoon the Kikkoman soy sauce over them. Make sure all sides are covered and set aside at room temperature.
Then prepare the pesto sauce. In a non-stick pan without oil, roast the pine nuts until they are slightly browned. Be sure to move them around as it only takes a minute or two. Set them aside and let them cool.
Wash the wild garlic leaves and cut them into smaller pieces. Remove larger stems.
Grate the Pecorino cheese.
Finally, put all the ingredients together in a blender, add the canola oil and puls-blitz them to a sauce.
Peel the asparagus generously in the lower two-thirds to remove the fibrous outer layer and peel the potatoes too.
Preheat the oven to 180° C
Bring a large saucepan with salted water to the boil and add the potatoes first. Cook them for 8 minutes. Then reduce the heat so that the water is simmering, and then add the asparagus to the potatoes. Cook all for another 12–15 minutes or until the asparagus is cooked. Take them out of the water and keep them warm.
Season the veal escalopes with a little salt and pepper. Fry the meat in a skillet for 1–2 minutes on each side so that the meat takes on some colour. Place them back into the oven-proof dish and sprinkle them with fresh grated truffled cheddar.
Put the dish in the top part of the oven and let the cheese melt. This will only take 2–3 minutes.

Serving | Spoon the pesto sauce onto the plates, place the asparagus and potatoes on the sauce and add the veal escalopes. Drizzle some more pesto sauce over the potatoes and serve.