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Veal’s Tongue in its Sauce

The tongue is such an important organ. We can feel all flavours through our tongue, we can talk and sing and shout, we can eat, lick, kiss… do I forget anything? Many animals have tongues but ours is so versatile. It’s the kind of muscle my daughter uses all the time!!! She just won’t stop talking ;D

However, there’s one tongue I love… to eat; and here you will find my second recipe done with Veal’s tongue. One of the tastiest meats ever! If you have never tried it and are not sure about doing so… just think this way… it’s another muscle! Don’t you eat the veal’s legs or shoulder or loin? C’mon! Give it a try :D

Once I started taking pictures, I just couldn’t stop! Ain’t they beautiful? See that thick sauce? Feel the saffron flavour!

What about the figs filling? Wouldn’t you lick that now?

And take a look at the meat… so tender and tasty!

Ingredients for 4 servings: half a tongue (600 grs aprox), 1 big green onion, 2 garlic cloves, 3 ripe tomatoes, 100 ml of red dry wine, 10 toasted almonds, 10 toasted hazelnuts, 6-7 saffron threads, 1 slice of toasted bread, some parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper.

  • You can either buy it boiled and cleaned or just raw. Mine was the former. If you buy it raw, you should boil it first with some herbs: thyme, bay leaf, carrot, leek, onion and salt
    and let it boil for 1 hour and a half. Then reserve the water and peel the tongue.
  • Since I bought it boiled and clean, I cut it in thin slices (half ctm) and reserved.
  • Start the sofrito with some olive oil (enough to cover the surface of the casserole), the onion, when transparent add the garlic and when fragant add the tomatoe (you have previously grated. Peels out).
  • When the tomatoe looses all its water and the sofrito darkens and gets oily again, it means that it’s done.
  • Add the wine and stir and simmer until it reduces.
  • Place the tongue slices in, add enough water to cover it (if you boiled yourself the tongue, use that stock) and simmer for 30 minutes.
  • Smash in a mortar the following ingredients: the hazelnuts, the almonds, the saffron, the toasted bread, the parsley (a spring) and some salt. When it’s done, add to the casserole and shake so it so that the dressing gets everywhere. Turn heat off and let it rest.
  • You can either have it this way or clean all the tongue slices from the sauce and put the sauce in a blender and get a fine texture.
  • Prepare the plate with the tongue in the bottom, sauce on top and stuff the pasta with figs.

To be honest, I didn’t like the figs combined with the pasta! My first option was some foie… but it didn’t have a good colour… Ahhhhh, you will hate me here! I did it for the COLOUR and for the PICTURE!!!! Please forgive me for being so vain.

Now, if you are the kind that likes tongue and still haven’t tasted it in a vinaigrette… what are you waiting for? Click the picture below and get the recipe :D

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Comments

10/02/2008 · 11:48 h by Peter G

You’ve done a great job with these tongues Nuria…BUT I don’t think I will be in a rush to try them…sorry. These will have to go in the “snails” pile!

10/02/2008 · 12:08 h by Ben

LOL! My sister uses her tongue all the time, too. When she was a kid she wouldn’t shut up!
I like tongue, but I have only eaten it in tacos and in a kind of Mexican soup. I will have to try this one. Hmmm tacos de lengua :-p

10/02/2008 · 13:04 h by Ivy

Nuria, I clicked on the photo and I saw Pixie commenting and thought it was a new comment. Only later did I see the date. Wow, it seems like ages ago. Another wow should go with my comment on the previous recipe because what I said wait until they see what I’ve done, I still have not posted about that. Shame on me. Now I have made this my top priority to post. Any way the pictures are lovely but I wouldn’t sacrifice taste for a picture.

10/02/2008 · 13:04 h by Bellini Valli

My neighbour when I was growing up always had pickled cows tongue in her fridge next to the pigs feet. You did a beautiful job with the photos Nuria:D

10/02/2008 · 13:20 h by Jen of A2eatwrite

Nuria, dear, this is where we’ll have to diverge… I ate beef tongue on Sundays frequently when I was growing up, and it was my least favorite food in the world!

It was a tradition for my father growing up… I don’t think I’ll ever get over it, even with someone as creative as you at the helm! ;-)

10/02/2008 · 13:31 h by Núria

It’s fine Peter! But you would be surprised if you tasted it :D

Hola Ben, girls have this tendency ;D. I’m also bastante parlanchina.

Yeah Ivy, it’s like ages ago… You are right not sacrifice the taste for the picture, but I just took them aside and that was it ;D

Hola Val! I think you have told me about that before… he, he, it really impressed you :D. It’s so normal to have these kind of things in our fridges here in Spain.

10/02/2008 · 18:24 h by _ts of [eatingclub] vancouver

I don’t actually mind eating toungue; I’ve eaten it before. But I’ve never cooked it — it’s that SKIN! That toungue SKIN with all the papillae! Gives me the heebie-jeebies. I think as long as someone does the peeling for me, I should be OK. Haha. =)

And oh, so funny, the doing it for COLOR and the PICTURE! HAHAHA…

10/02/2008 · 19:11 h by Emiline

I’m scared to eat tongue! I don’t know if I could do it. You are much braver than me.

The fig pasta looks cool. Sorry you didn’t like it, but it looks great.

10/02/2008 · 19:41 h by JennDZ - The Leftover Queen

Beautiful photos Nuria, I think yours is the first blog I have ever seen a recipe for tongue! I am always learning about new foods on your blog…I think I’ll just enjoy it as a work of art – those photos sure are lovely – and that saffron sauce looks great!

10/02/2008 · 20:07 h by Peter M

The plating and the overall dish is very creative and appealing. You’ve made veal tongue something desirable to eat…not an easy task!

10/03/2008 · 0:50 h by TNelson

NEVER! poor little cows… Veal has never been on a menu in this house – never will. and tongue? Ewwwww…
Guess I’m a common middle-class kind of gal..

Trish

10/03/2008 · 19:18 h by Candy

Brought back memories. My mom would relunctantly fix tongue for my dad when we were growing up. Enjoying your blog.

10/03/2008 · 22:02 h by Judy@nofearentertaining

Wow Nuria…that recipe is beautiful!!! I love the colors and texture that go along with this. I won’t eat veal but I wonder if this will work with another animal tongue?

10/03/2008 · 23:25 h by Maryann

Nuria, Nuria, Nuria. First octopus, now tongue. What are we going to do with you. haha

10/04/2008 · 22:54 h by glamah16

When I was younger I ate tounge all the time. Then one day I stopped. Havent had it ages. Even saw some today at the butchers. Maybe if you make it for me to get requianted.

10/04/2008 · 23:55 h by ley

Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen tongue before on a blog! I’m not going to try it, but I think your pictures are gorgeous! And the fig pasta did completely what you wanted- it looked beautiful for the picture! :) The filling actually sounds really good, though. I bet it would be really good on cookies! Mmm… :D

10/05/2008 · 14:57 h by We Are Never Full

fabulous! you know your first veal tongue recipe partly inspired our veal tongue dish a few months ago. i love it. i really challenge readers to give it a try. it’s something that takes a bit of “balls” b/c you can’t stop thinking about the fact that you are eating tongue, but it really is delicious. not sure about the fig/veal combo, but like you said, it made for a nicer picture!

10/05/2008 · 16:29 h by noobcook

eeks, you are cooking tongues! :D You certainly set tongues wagging (opps, corny tongue-in-cheek comment =x) but really, you made it look so nice, I may just have gobbled it up b4 asking you what it was ;) lovely food presentation :)

10/05/2008 · 17:58 h by Núria

Hola Eating Club! I’m not eating these papillae!!!! We take the skin off and the texture of the tongue is really neat then :D.

Hola Emiline :D. You’d be surprised! It’s only a question of not thinking what you eat ;D

Hola Jenn :D. The sauce was so good! … And I’m so glad my blog is entertaining you ♥♥

Thanks Peter :D. For us it is desirable… he, he… maybe eating grasshoppers wouldn’t be that easy ;D

Hola Trish! Welcome to Spanish Recipes :D. Well, everyone is free to cook whatever he/she likes! I’ll take a look at your blog to see what are you cooking ;D

Thanks Candy :D. My mother made us eat veal’s liver when we were kids… never ate it again… hate it!!!!

Well, Judy… I don’t know, but I would try with pork… maybe it would work. Asking your butcher would be the best, though :D

:D Maryann. No sé! I like trying it all ;D

Sure, Courtney… dinner is at 9:00 o’clock pm :D

Hola Ley!!!! You must be married already…. Aaaahhh, I’ll go to your blog on monday to say hi!
Yes, the figs would be much better on cookies :D

He, he, Amy… you are so daring :D. We two know what the rest of the world is missing ;D. Yeah figs and veal combo is no good!

Hey noobcook… I bet that if you give it a bite you would ask for more ;D

10/05/2008 · 19:50 h by Heather

I’ve only eaten tongue once, in a taco. I liked it a lot! Very good flavor.

What shape is that pasta? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.

10/06/2008 · 3:38 h by chou

I think this is one food that makes me re-examine my “approved” food list. I was surprised at how visceral my response was . . . thanks for giving me a chance to muse about what I eat and why.

10/06/2008 · 7:15 h by Núria

Hola Heather! This pasta is called Galets here in Catalonia. It’s the kind we use for the Christmas broth, very very typical. Don’t know if it exists in other places.

Chou :D, you are welcome!

10/06/2008 · 7:44 h by Dee

I’m a squeamish eater, but my husband, oh my, he’ll love this! He made some heart recently, and I believe there’s some other strange body part in the freezer. Yeech!

Love the fig pasta… drool :)

10/09/2008 · 8:25 h by kittie

I’ve had tongue sandwiches!

But never as a meal like this. Would love to try it… and my butchers sells them… but I think the hardest bit would be getting my head around peeling the tongue!

10/29/2011 · 21:17 h by Olenka

Love this recipe, thanks for sharing!!!

01/30/2012 · 2:34 h by Jennifer

I just made this recipe for maybe the 4th or 5th time, and did something a little differently: I used white wine instead of red wine. It was excellent–in my opinion, much better than with the red wine. More delicate, let the flavour of the saffron and the tongue shine through. I wonder, in fact, if the sauce in the pictures was made with white wine, because when I used to do it with red, the sauce would come out very dark, almost purple. Anyway, it’s a fabulous recipe. I need to cook more stuff from this blog!

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