Osso Bucco

I had some friends over for dinner last night…actually it was 7 of us.  I decided to make Osso Bucco, the. classic Italian dish of braised veal shanks.  It is traditionally sprinkled with a gremolata, a mix of garlic, parsley and lemon peel.  I don’t really like the idea of raw garlic on top of the meat so I made mine without it.  Instead of risotto, I served it with roasted potatoes and brussel sprouts.  This is a great recipe when you have guest coming over because you can do it ahead of time and it only gets better after a few hours.

Ingredients

Osso Bucco

1 cup all-purpose flour

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

8 pieces veal shank

Extra-virgin olive oil

2 onion, diced

3  celery stalk, diced

4 carrots, diced

1 lemon, zested

8 garlic gloves, minced

4 bay leaves

1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 bottle Merlot wine

1 (14 1/2-ounce) can low-sodium beef broth

1 1/2 cans (28-ounce) whole San Marzano tomatoes, hand-crushed
Gremolata:

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries

1 lemon zested and finely grated

Handful chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

1.  In a large shallow dish, add flour and season the flour with salt and pepper.  Dredge each piece of veal shank in the flour and dust off the excess.

2.  In a large Dutch pot over medium high heat add a few tablespoon of olive oil until bottom of the pot is covered.  When oil is hot, add veal shank and brown on each side.  Do not crowd the pot.  Brown the veal shank in batches if necessary.  Remove the browned meat.

3.  In the same pot, add a little more oil if necessary.  Add the onion, celery, carrots, lemon zest, garlic and parsley.  Saute until browned and softened.

4.  Preheat oven to 375 Degrees.  Add the browned veal back into the pot.  Add wine and bay leaves.  Cook until the wine has reduced by half, about 30 minutes.

5.  Add tomatoes and beef broth and stir to combine.  Place in the oven covered for 1 1/2 hours.  Remove cover stir and cook in the oven for another 1 1/2  hours until the sauce is thick and the meat falls of the bones.

6.  For the gremolata, combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until finely chopped.  Sprinkle over osso bucco and serve.

One my guest brought over this delicious chocolate cake.  It was a take on a German Chocolate Cake but much light and extremely delicious.  It was also breakfast in the morning.  Yum!  I told her to please send me the recipe…will post when I receive it.