Veal Francese with Artichoke Hearts

Have the butcher filet two veal cutlets under 1/2" thick. Pound them with the back of a frying pan or a mallet if they are thicker.

Drain jarred artichoke hearts of their liquid and cut into quarters. Gently brown them in one tablespoon butter, in a sauté pan on medium low heat.

As artichokes sauté, set up two shallow bowls in which to coat the veal. In one bowl mix the flour, pepper, salt and basil. In the second bowl, beat the 2 eggs with 2 tablespoons of the wine to thin it.

Cut half the lemon into thin 1/8" slices. When the artichoke quarters are a pale golden brown, set the heat on low and add 1 cup white wine to the pan with the lemon slices. Cover with a lid and simmer for 4 minutes, occasionally mashing the softening lemon with a wooden spoon to create a sauce.

Add the remaining tablespoon butter and lemon juice from the remaining 1/2 lemon. Dredge the veal filets first in the flour mixture very lightly and then quickly coat with egg. (The coating of both flour and egg needs to be as thick as possible. Do not soak.) Push the softened lemon slices to the side of the pan and add more wine if the pan is drying up. Then add the veal cutlets and capers to simmer on low heat, shaking the pan occasionally. To continually keep the cutlets floating in about 1/2"-1/4" liquid, add wine as needed. Continue smashing the lemon slices to extract their softened centers.

Turn the filets after 3 minutes and cook for 1 minute more on the other side. Transfer the cooked cutlets to a plate, give the lemon slices one last squeeze and then discard them. Pour the remaining sauce over the plated veal.