Osso Bucco

Mollie Stones had some nice looking veal shanks on sale for $3.99 a lb., never having tried osso bucco, or veal shanks in general, I decided Sunday is as good a day as any to prepare this slow-cooked classic.

Start things off with a uniform cut mirepoix using one yellow onion, one carrot, one rib of celery and a minced garlic clove or two...

Make a bouquet-garni with sprigs of thyme, rosemary, parsley, and a couple of whole cloves (you can use whatever whole spices and herbs you have handy)

Be sure to tie up the shanks with some butchers or cooking twine to keep the meat from falling off the bone, dredge in flour and brown in a butter and olive oil mix...do in shifts, adding more olive oil and butter if necessary...remove the shanks and add some more butter/olive oil and add the onion and some minced garlic and cook for about 5 minutes, deglaze the pan with some dry white, sherry, Marsala, chicken stock, water or whatever you have handy scrape the brown bits and add the celery and carrots and cook through, about 7 minutes...

Return the shanks and whatever juices have formed on the plate, along with a can of diced tomatoes, a cup of chicken broth and the bouquet-garni to the dutch oven and place in a 325 degree oven for about 2 hours basting with the sauce every 45 minutes. I also added a little tomato paste...
Make up a gremolate with parsley, lemon zest and a minced garlic clove...don't worry the lemon zest really subdues the raw garlic!


Optional...after 2 hours take out the osso bucco and keep in a warm oven, strain the sauce and boil til reduced to about 2 cups, it will definitely thicken up a bit! Glaze over the warming shanks a few times to reheat...


The finished product! The meat on the bone turned out to be a little fattier than I hoped, although the real star is the blackened bone marrow. You use a small instrument to retrieve the tasty goodness from the center of the bone...it's rich and decadent.

I served it with some instant Yukon gold potatoes from Costco and some green beans from Trader Joes...risotto and polenta are popular side dishes.

Leftover I have a whole lot of fresh thyme and rosemary which will be put to use in the next installment of "Tiny Kitchen Chronicles"

P.S. The food pictures will improve over time!