CA Chef Shares His Mom's 'Zurcher Geschnetzeltes' Swiss Family Recipe

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Mother's Day this year falls on Sunday, May 8. And as a tribute to his mom, One Market Restaurant's Executive Chef Mark Dommen is sharing his mother's Swiss family recipe for "Zurcher Geschnetzeltes and Rösti" — Zurich-style veal in a cream sauce with potato rösti.

"This is a very traditional dish that my mother would make quite often for dinner," Dommen said. "However, veal wasn’t always available to us, so she would make it with pork loin or pork tenderloin. It’s really quite simple."

One Market, which opened in 1993 at 1 Market St. in San Francisco, specializes in seasonal menus with fresh, California ingredients and also features a New York-style delicatessen concept, Mark 'n Mike's, for takeout and delivery.

The classically trained Dommen, who came onboard in 2004, helped earn the restaurant a Michelin star in 2008-2012 and a 3-½ star review from San Francisco Chronicle critic Michael Bauer.

The chef did make some adjustments to his mother's dish.

"I’ve changed it a little by using reduced chicken jus instead of flour as the thickening agent, and I cut the amount of cream in half," he said. "It makes the dish lighter to eat, and it’s gluten free. Geschnetzeltes is traditionally served with rösti."

See the recipe below.

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Mark’s Mom’s Zurcher Geschnetzeltes and Rösti

Serves: 4
Ingredients:

• 2 lbs tender veal, sliced into thin strips (can sub in pork loin/ pork tenderloin)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
• 1 cup onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 lemon, ½ zest and all juice
• ½ cup white wine
• ½ cup chicken jus, reduced
• ½ cup heavy cream
• Sea salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• Parsley or micro parsley for garnish

Preparation:

1. In a large pan over medium-high heat, melt half of the butter and half of the oil. As soon as the butter bubbles, add the onions and garlic, and sauté for a couple minutes until the onions are softened and translucent, but have yet to color. Stir in the mushrooms, and cook until the mushrooms begin to soften.
2. Stir in the chicken jus and cream, and bring to a simmer. Allow to cook and reduce until the sauce has thickened. Finish it with the lemon juice, zest and salt and pepper to taste. Turn the heat off and set aside.
3. Place a second large sauté pan over high heat, melt the remaining butter and oil. Season the veal with salt and pepper. Place the veal in the sauté pan and sear it as quick as possible. Once seared the veal can be added to the mushroom cream sauce. It’s important not to overcrowd the sauté pan with too much meat when searing. Depending on how large or small your sauté pan is, this part may need to be done in several steps.
4. Place the same pan that you used to sear the veal in back on the stove over high heat, and deglaze the pan with the white wine. Allow to reduce in half and using a wooden spoon, scrape any browned bits from the pan. Add the reduced wine to the veal and sauce, and stir to combine. Bring back to simmer, season to taste, and it’s ready to serve. Sprinkle with chopped or micro parsley.
5. If serving with rösti potato, place the rösti in the center of a plate and spoon the geschnetzeltes over. Sprinkle with chopped or micro parsley.

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Rösti Potato
Serves: 4
Ingredients:

• 2-3 large Yukon gold potatoes
• 8 tablespoons grapeseed oil
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Cook the yukon gold potatoes in salted boiling water until cooked but still very firm. The potato is cooked when a metal skewer can penetrate the potato with a little resistance. The potato needs to be firm and not too soft. Drain the potato, and when it's cold enough to handle, peel and cut it into a julienne using a Japanese mandolin with the middle-sized teeth.
2. Place the julienned potato into a bowl, and mix to taste with the sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. Heat four blini pans over medium heat and place 2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil in each pan.
3. Divide the potato mixture into each pan, and pack down the potatoes until a nice rösti cake forms, cook until a golden crust forms. Turn the potato rösti over, it may be necessary to add some more oil to the pan and cook until this side also has a golden-brown crust. Remove the rösti from the pan, and place on a plate lined with a paper towel, and keep warm until ready to serve.

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