Veal Osso Bucco
This was the first real “dish” I tried. It’s elaborate, filling and surprisingly easy to make. Don’t let all the separate notes fool you – it boils down to about seven steps in the end.
“Osso Bucco” means, basically, “bone with a hole in it”. Sophisticated, huh? If you are not a fan of veal, try lamb shanks. Beef osso bucco works too, is more easily found and probably takes less time cooking. I like the veal, though, so that’s what I’m going to use here.
Serves 4, ish. 2-3 if you’re like me and eat a lot.
Time Required: About 2 hours in total. This can also be made the day before and left, as everything soaks up all the flavours of the dish and becomes super-awesome.
Ingredients:
Olive oil
Plain flour
8 veal shanks (cut to about 1-2 inches thick. Your butcher usually has them pre-cut)
1/2 an onion, chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced or sliced
3 carrots, chopped into roughly 1cm cubes
About a teaspoon of lemon zest (more if you want – I use a teaspoon because I can never get more than that from one lemon as I am uncoordinated)
Several (about 6-7) large sprigs of rosemary and tarragon, both chopped finely. Don’t spend hours chopping the herbs here, just…mince them a bit.
1 very generous handful of basil leaves torn from the stalks – the tearing part is fun and makes your hands smell good. Chop it roughly but in smallish pieces – or, do what I do and just bunch them up in your hand and use scissors to cut the leaves into the pan
6-7 large tomatoes, half chopped roughly and the other half puréed roughly – just blitz for about 10 seconds
1 bottle of good dry white wine – I used Riesling the first time because I know nothing about wine, and it works pretty well
2 cans each of Borlotti, Butter and Cannellini beans, drained
1 can of chickpeas
How to:
1. Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan. Roll the shanks in the flour until all sides are covered (chuck a bunch of flour onto a plate and go nuts), then place in the pan and cook on ALL sides until you cannot see any pink whatsoever. This usually takes about two minutes per shank. If you’re like me and get impatient, grab a shank with your tongs and press each side into the pan until it goes very faint golden. Once done, pile the shanks on a separate plate and cover to keep warmish.
2. Heat more oil (medium-high heat) in a large casserole-y type dish(the pan I use is a big hunk of ceramic that is almost as heavy when it’s empty as when it’s full, no matter what you have in it) and throw in the onion, garlic and carrots. Fry them off until the onion becomes transparent and it’s soft and squishy. Throw in the lemon and half the rosemary and tarragon and let it all sort of…mush around until your kitchen smells good.
3. Add your veal shanks and the tomato. Shake the pan a little to let everything settle, then pour over the white wine. Now, here’s where you get to choose. If you don’t like the taste of wine in your cooking, pour in about a quarter of your bottle. Otherwise, keep pouring until you see the liquid level rise slightly (or until it reaches the same level as the meat and tomato), then stop. Put the lid on the bottle and put it away. It’s fun to add wine to food, so once you’ve started, it’s hard to stop. By all means, pour yourself a glass to drink, though.
4. Turn the heat up until everything boils for a minute or so, then turn the heat waaaaay down and watch the liquid for signs of simmering. Once it starts bubbling very very occasionally, turn the heat up a tiny bit, put the lid on, and go away. Leave it alone and don’t touch it for an hour, maybe an hour and a half. Go read a book. Go outside. Watch some tv. Go for a walk. Read some more of these recipes. Do something else.
5. After you’ve let it all simmer away slowly, take the lid off and very carefully turn the shanks. Squish everything around and add the rest of your herbs, including all the basil chopped in. Add all your beans and try not to let everything wash out of the pan because of the sheer amount of food involved. If you think it’s too much, add one can of each bean and the chickpeas, then survey the damage. If the pan is bursting, bugger the rest of the beans.
6. Put the lid back on and leave it for another half hour or so – don’t touch the heat, just let it simmer quietly.
7. After half an hour, take it off the heat and stir it around a little. The veal will be falling off the bone by now, so be careful when turning. Have a taste and add some salt and/or pepper if you think it needs it. The alcohol should have boiled off by now, so you’ll just have a tomato-ey, bean-y basily taste floating about.
8. Serve! Pull out a shank onto a plate and cover with some of the saucy mix (harhar). It’s quite a lot on one plate, but if you like a little variation, make some mashed potatoes (or polenta, if you like. Which I don’t.)in the half hour you have and serve the osso bucco on top.
9. Enjoy either with the rest of the white wine, or with whatever drink takes your fancy. This dish must be eaten in the company of others, so that everyone can marvel at how lovely it is. Because it really is.
Suggestions? Leave a comment! I’m always happy to hear any ideas you may have for this dish.
So yeah, I tried this right. I made one or two small variations though. It was superb. So tender, so flavourful – and man, I smoke. So it’s pretty impressive when I note how good something tastes.
I opted to go with a red wine, 1996 Annie’s Lane Coppertrail Shiraz from Clare Valley. Excllent wine, and goes well with the tender, tender, veal.
Awesome. The only reason I served it with white wine is because it was the remainder of the bottle that went into the dish itself (and believe me, there wasn’t too much left. I’m a tad enthusiastic with my pourings). Red would probably work much better, but only if you accompanied it with a good, buttery mash. But then again, I seem to think you need to accompany anything with a good, buttery mash.