We often treat ourselves to Paupiettes de Veau Veal Rounds in a Mushroom Cream Sauce which are so easy to make and so very filling and tasty.

Veal paupiettes, refered by many in France as “alouettes sans tête” (headless larks) consists of a mince, packed in a thin slice of veal, and cooked in a sauce that often includes wine.

Paupiettes originated in Italy in the 13th century when the Milan Maestro Martino crossed the country to and fro in search of local specialties. Martino gives the first known recipe of polpette (Per fare polpette di vitello carne o altra bona carne). He cut a thin slice of veal leg on which he spread a mixture of fennel, pine nuts, parsley, marjoram, bacon, spices and salt. He wrapped it all up and roasted it on a spit.

A century later, his polpette had changed to a slice of beef, not veal, stuffed with bacon, ham, cloves, egg yolk, cheese, pepper, cinnamon, parsley, mint and thyme. Everything was rolled, spit-roasted and braised in broth, verjus and currants.

Now, in the 21st century, we enjoy Paupiettes de Veau as often as we wish because they are simple to make and very tasty! The recipe here is the most common version of a paupiette – minced pork wrapped in veal. You can, of course, use minced beef wrapped in veal. And you can add spices to your mince if you want to experiment.

Most of the year, at our local butcher in France, we can find lovely rounded veal paupiettes the size of handballs, stuffed with either dried apricots or with prunes, and tied with sliced bacon. There are no limits to what you can actually put inside one of these headless larks, but a ground meat mixture is the most common filling and the one that we prefer.

The recipe for paupiettes with mushroom sauce is very simple. You’ll never forgive yourself if you don’t try it just once.