Ossobuco Recipes

Steps:

• Dust the veal shanks lightly with flour. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the veal, and cook until browned on the outside. Remove to a bowl, and keep warm. Add two cloves of crushed garlic and onion to the skillet; cook and stir until onion is tender. Return the veal to the pan and mix in the carrot and wine. Simmer for 10 minutes.
• Pour in the tomatoes and beef stock, and season with salt and pepper. Cover, and simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 hours, basting the veal every 15 minutes or so. The meat should be tender, but not falling off the bone.
• In a small bowl, mix together the parsley, 1 clove of garlic and lemon zest. Sprinkle the gremolata over the veal just before serving.

Steps:

• Season the osso buco generously with salt.
• Coat a wide, flat pan generously with olive oil. Bring the pan to a high heat and add the osso buco to the pan and brown them very well on all sides.
• In a food processor puree the onion, celery, fennel, and garlic to a coarse paste. When the osso buco is well browned on all sides, remove from the pan and reserve. Ditch the excess oil from the pan and add a little new oil and bring to a high heat. Add the veggies to the pan with a pinch of crushed red pepper, season with salt, and brown them very well. Do not skimp on this step - it will take awhile, and that's ok. Add the tomato paste and cook until it starts to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the wine and reduce by half.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Return the osso buco to the pan. Add water so the liquid becomes even with top of the meat. Taste the liquid and season with salt if needed. Add in the bay leaves and thyme bundle. Bring the liquid to a boil, cover, and put the whole pan in the oven.
• Cook the osso buco for 1 hour. Pull the pan out of the oven and check the liquid level and the seasoning. Add more liquid, if needed, return the pan to the oven, and cook for another hour.
• Remove the lid and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, remove the osso buco, and hold on a serving platter. Skim the fat off the surface of the sauce, if needed. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning.
• Remove the string from the osso buco. Serve the osso buco with sauce spooned over. Garnish with Gremolata. Serve with a demitasse spoon to scoop out the marrow.
• Combine all ingredients in a small bowl.

Steps:

• Place the rosemary, thyme, bay leaf and cloves into cheesecloth and secure with twine. This will be your bouquet garni.
• For the veal shanks, pat dry with paper towels to remove any excess moisture. Veal shanks will brown better when they are dry. Secure the meat to the bone with the kitchen twine. Season each shank with salt and freshly ground pepper. Dredge the shanks in flour, shaking off excess.
• In a large Dutch oven pot, heat vegetable oil until smoking. Add tied veal shanks to the hot pan and brown all sides, about 3 minutes per side. Remove browned shanks and reserve.
• In the same pot, add the onion, carrot and celery. Season with salt at this point to help draw out the moisture from the vegetables. Saute until soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the tomato paste and mix well. Return browned shanks to the pan and add the white wine and reduce liquid by half, about 5 minutes. Add the bouquet garni and 2 cups of the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover pan and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is falling off the bone. Check every 15 minutes, turning shanks and adding more chicken stock as necessary. The level of cooking liquid should always be about 3/4 the way up the shank.
• Carefully remove the cooked shanks from the pot and place in decorative serving platter. Cut off the kitchen twine and discard.
• Remove and discard bouquet garni from the pot.
• Pour all the juices and sauce from the pot over the shanks. Garnish with chopped parsley and lemon zest.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Heat vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-low heat until very hot. Place flour in a shallow dish. Season veal shanks with salt and pepper; dredge in flour, shaking off excess. Working in batches if necessary, add shanks to Dutch oven (they should sizzle immediately). Cook, turning, until browned on all sides, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove veal shanks from Dutch oven and set aside.
• Add onion, carrots, celery, and leek to Dutch oven; cook, stirring, until softened and lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Add bay leaf, thyme, oregano, tomatoes, wine, and stock. Return veal shanks to Dutch oven and bring to a simmer. Cover and transfer to oven; cook, checking occasionally to make sure the liquid is still simmering, until meat is very tender, about 2 1/2 hours.
• Remove from oven and transfer shanks to a platter; cover with parchment paper-lined aluminum foil to keep warm. Place Dutch oven over medium heat; simmer until sauce is thickened, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Return shanks to Dutch oven to heat through and coat with sauce. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and lemon zest; serve.

Steps:

• Generously season both sides of the veal shanks with salt and pepper. Lightly coat in the flour and shake off the excess.
• Heat a large heavy-bottomed pan over high heat. Add the olive oil and butter and swirl them around the pan. Add the shanks and cook for 3 minutes per side, until golden brown. Add the wine to the pan and stir it occasionally to deglaze the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Reduce the heat to medium-low, partially cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Turn the meat and cook until tender, about 30-45 minutes more.
• Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the parsley, orange and lemon peel, and garlic. Serve the shanks topped with a sprinkling of the citrus-parsley mixture.

Steps:

• In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, and shake to coat., In a large skillet, brown beef in butter and oil. Transfer meat and drippings to a 6-qt. slow cooker. Add wine to skillet, stirring to loosen browned bits from pan; pour over meat. Add the tomatoes, broth, carrots, onion, celery, thyme, oregano, bay leaves and remaining salt., Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours or until meat is tender. Discard bay leaves., Skim fat from cooking juices; transfer juices to a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; gradually stir into the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened., In a small bowl, combine the gremolata ingredients. Serve beef with gremolata and sauce. If desired serve over polenta.

Steps:

• Soak the porcini for at least 15 minutes in 200ml/7fl oz boiling water. Don't remove the membrane that holds the veal together, but trim off any obviously fatty or lumpy bits. Dust both sides of the meat with the seasoned flour.
• Heat the butter and oil in a very large flameproof sauté pan or casserole over a medium-high heat. When the sizzling stops, put in the veal and fry the slices for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown. Transfer the meat to a plate.
• Replace the pan over a low to medium heat and tip in the carrot and celery. Gently fry for 5 minutes until the vegetables have slightly softened, then raise the heat and pour in the wine. Bubble the wine furiously for 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.
• Fish the softened porcini out of the soaking liquid, squeeze out the excess moisture and reserve it. Chop the porcini roughly and add to the sauté pan, together with the soaking liquid. Add the sugocasa or passata and stock, then stir.
• Put the veal back into the pan in a single layer, cover and bring to the boil. Immediately reduce the heat and simmer very gently for 2 hours, turning the veal slices halfway, until the meat is very soft. The liquid should reduce to a thickish sauce, but if it's still thin after 1¼ -1½ hours, half remove the lid to allow evaporation. Serve with the grain 'risotto' (see link, right).

Steps:

• In a shallow dish, stir together flour, salt, and black pepper. Dredge meat in seasoned flour. In a large skillet, melt butter with oil over medium heat. Brown meat. Remove meat from pan, and set aside.
• Add onion, carrots, celery, and garlic to drippings in pan. Cook and stir for about 5 minutes.
• Stir in tomato sauce, water, basil, thyme, parsley, and bay leaf. Return meat to pan. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to simmer. Cover, and cook for 2 1/2 hours.

Steps:

• Heat one ounce of the butter in a large Texas skillet or Dutch oven.
• Add peeled & finely chopped carrot, onion, celery and one of the crushed garlic cloves. Cook gently until onions are golden brown. Remove from heat & transfer to a large ovenproof casserole.
• Coat shanks in flour seasoned with salt & pepper. Heat remaining butter & oil in large frying pan. Add shanks and brown on all sides.
• Carefully pack shanks on top of vegetables in casserole; stand shanks upright to retain marrow in the bones.
• If pan is oily drain excess oil off. Add tomatoes and chop into pan with wooden spoon until the tomatoes are all popped. You could also start with chopped tomatoes or you can puree them. I just find the flavor better with the whole tomatoes and enjoy the tomato chunks with the rest of the veggies and the meat. Deglaze the pan by scraping the goodies up off the bottom of the pan into the tomato juices with a wooden spoon. Add wine, beef broth, basil, thyme, oregano, bay leaf & strip of lemon rind. Taste. Add salt & pepper to taste if necessary.
• Pour sauce over veal shanks & veg in casserole. Bake in moderate (350°F) oven for 2 hours, or until meat is falling away from bones. (Stir occasionally during cooking.)
• Serve over rice, pasta, potatoes or polenta.
• Quickly blend the chopped parsley, grated lemon rind & other crushed garlic clove and serve separately as a fresh, crisp garnish.

Steps:

• Veal shanks should be sawed into 8 pieces about 2" long.
• Can sub chicken or beef for veal stock.
• Just make sure that it's either homemade or low sodium.
• Spread flour on a plate or on waxed paper.
• Tomatoes should be with their juice.
• Preheat oven to 350.
• Choose a heavy casserole with a tight fitting lid that is just large enough to contain the veal pieces.
• Use two casseroles if necessary.
• Put the onion, carrot, celery, and butter and cook over medium heat for 8-10 minutes, until the vegetables soften and wilt.
• Add the chopped garlic and lemon peel at the end.
• Remove from the heat.
• Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
• Turn the trussed pieces of veal in the flour, shaking off any excess.
• When the oil is quite hot (test it with the corner of one of the pieces of veal: a moderate sizzle means the heat is just right), brown the veal on all sides.
• (Brown the veal as soon as it has been dipped in flour, otherwise the flour may dampen, and the meat won't brown properly).
• Stand the pieces of veal side by side on top of the vegetables in the casserole.
• Tip the skillet and draw off nearly all the fat with a spoon.
• Add the wine and boil briskly for about 3 minutes, scraping up and loosening any browning residue stuck to the pan.
• Pour over the pieces of veal in the casserole.
• In the same skillet, bring the broth to a simmer and pour into the casserole.
• Add the chopped tomatoes with their juice, the thyme, basil, bay leaves, parsley, pepper and salt.
• (Hold off on salt until after cooking if you are using canned beef broth. It is sometimes very salty).
• The broth should come up to the top of the veal pieces.
• If it does not, add more.
• Bring the contents of the casserole to a simmer on top of the stove.
• Cover tightly and place in the lower third of the preheated oven.
• Cook for about 2 hours, carefully turning and basting the veal pieces every 20 minutes.
• When done, they should be very tender when pricked with a fork, and their sauce should be dense and creamy.
• (if, while the veal is cooking, there is not enough liquid in the casserole, you may add up to 1/3 cup of warm water).
• If the reverse is true, and the sauce is too thin when the veal is done, remove the meat to warm platter, place the uncovered casserole on top of the stove, and over high heat briskly boil the sauce until it thickens.
• Pour the sauce over the veal and serve piping hot.
• NOTE When transferring the veal pieces to the serving platter, carefully remove the trussing strings without breaking up the shanks.
• GREMOLADA Marcella recommends against making it, but if you must try it yourself, the ingredients are as follows: one teaspoon of grated lemon peel, 1/4 teaspoon very finely chopped garlic and 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley.
• Gremolada is sprinkled over the veal shanks just as they finish cooking.

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a heavy fireproof casserole. Gently fry the onions and garlic until soft, without browning.
• Add the remaining ingredients, cover and simmer for one-and-a-half hours. If more liquid is needed, add more stock.