Fresh Direct had a lovely sale on osso buco, so I bought 3 packages of it. Each package held 2 nice pieces.
Firstly, I patted each piece dry after taking from the package, and tied each on up like a lovely package.
This was a waste of my time, because as soon as they went into the dutch oven to brown, the strings came off, so, either I have to learn how to tie meat better, or I need to get thicker pieces so I can tie in 2 locations rather than 1 place.
The finished plate with polenta and gremolata
Osso Buco with Gremolata
Ingredients
6 veal shanks cut into 2 inch rounds
2 large carrots sliced into thick rounds (I will blitz this at the end to emulsify the sauce. You can chop finely and no emulsification necessary)
4 stalks celery, cut into 1 inch chunks, see above
1 large onion, cut into large dice, see above
3 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped, see above
1/2 bottle of drinkable white wine
1/2 can tomato paste
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
1 - 1.5 quarts of good chicken or beef stock, I used chicken as I prefer the lighter finished product
3 bay leaves
2 large sprigs of thyme
salt and pepper
1/4 c all purpose flour seasoned with salt, pepper and granulated garlic
1 piece tangerine peel, left whole
Oil for browning
Method
1. Dredge each shank in the seasoned flour, shaking off excess. Why? So it doesn't burn in the oil. Heat oven to 350°F
2. Heat a large dutch oven and add oil. When hot, add shanks and brown well on all sides. This will need to be done in batches. Hold the browned shanks on a plate.
3. After the browning is finished, clean out the pan with a paper towel held by tongs. Why? You don't want the burnt bits of flour in your sauce, nor do you want the oil that burned those bits. There will be some fond on the bottom of the pan. You want brown or dark brown fond, not black. Try to get as much of the black up as you can.
4. Add fresh oil and add onions, carrots, and celery and a pinch or two of salt and pepper. Saute and use the veggies to help pull up the fond on the bottom of the pan. Add the garlic. When most of the fond has come up, there will be stubborn spots, then add the 1/2 bottle of white wine, I used Damn Good Chard, it is very drinkable and nicely buttery. Really work to get up those stubborn spots of fond and let reduce until its syrupy. Clear a space and add the tomatoes paste and cook until it has a brick color instead of dark red. Mix into veggies well. Add a splash more of wine to loosen things up and then add the tomatoes with their juice. Stir well. Add 1 qt chicken stock. Mix well.
5. Put the browned shanks on top of the veggies in a single layer, if possible. Push down on them and add enough additional stock to cover, if needed. Add the bay leaves, thyme sprigs, and tangerine peel. Bring to a simmer and cover and place in a 350°F oven.
6. After 2 hours check on the shanks, they should be bubbling away nicely, lower temp to 300°F and recover. In another hour, check again, shanks should be falling away from the bone. You want to keep those bones, there's good marrow eating in there!
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| beautiful silky sauce |
7. Remove pan from oven and turn oven off. Remove shanks carefully from the pan to a separate clean plate or 2. You want to keep them together as best as possible. Remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. If any bones have come free, remove them as well. Using a stick blender, blitz the veggies to get a lovely thick sauce. Taste and adjust spices. Carefully replace shanks into the blended sauce along with any juices and bits of veg that may have clung to them. Cove the pan and return to the cooling oven until dinner time.
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| carefully returned shanks |
Gremolata
Chop together a long of parsley, lemon zest, salt, and garlic until it forms a paste and squeeze a bit of lemon juice in and mix well. Serve with the Osso Buco.
This is a paste that is heavily redolent of garlic. It completes the meal. The braise is mild and this gremolata really picks it up. Very addictive, and does not store well. So make only what you will use in that particular meal.
