Topic: Osso Buco

[supersprout]

Harvested an armful of parsley today, thought I'd make gremolata!
As luck would have it the country butcher was open and kindly sawed chunks of beef shin into the right sort of pieces for osso buco (they don't do veal)
Does anyone have a tried and tested recipe for osso buco please? ::)

[tim]

Love it!

[supersprout]

How do you make it tim? Years and years since I did! ;)

[calendula]

I have a few variations - onion sauce, vegetable sauce, bianco (uses anchovies, white wine but not tomatoes) and the usual rx as well

let me know if you'd any of these - the usual rx is one of Rick Stein's  :)

[supersprout]

anchovies and white wine please calendula! :D

[calendula]

ossobuco in bianco

8 pieces of veal shin (substituted by beef)
75g plain flour
salt and pepper
115g butter
2 tab spoons olive oil
2 small red onions chopped
4 celery stalks chopped
2 garlic cloves
tin/jar of anchovies
1/2 bottle dry white wine

for the gremolata - finely grated zest 2 lemons, 1 garlic clove, 3 tab spoons chopped parsely

dust each piece of meat with flour, salt and pepper

in a pan large enough to hold the meat in one layer melt half the butter and all the oil and brown and seal the meat each side - remove the meat and fry the onions and celery until soft but not brown, then add the garlic and anchovies and mash until the anchovies have melted, pour in the wine and reduce

carefull replace the meat, cover with g/p paper and a lid and cook for a couple of hours (depending on how thick the meat is and how many pieces you are using)

mix together the ingredianets of the gremolata and sprinkle over each piece of meat

traditionally this would be served with a risotto (risotto alla milanese as it uses up some of the beef marrow - will give rx for this if you'd like) but I often opt for creamy mashed potatoes with fennel

the above is a River Cafe rx and very nice and for anyone who thinks  ::) to anchovies they actually completely disappear and leave a lovely rich flavour that you can't really identifiy as anchovies

don't suppose we can really call this ossobuco if using beef but we know what we mean  ;D

[supersprout]

what a star you are calendula, will make this for Sunday supper!
 ;D ;D ;D

[tim]

Sounds great. I don't make it - just love it. But went off veal 50 years ago!!

Yes to anchovies.

[calendula]

I can't bring myself to eat veal either - a hang up from the bad slaughter techniques from yester-year and probably as bad now - but super duper sprout has inspired me to cook it soon as well, just the thought of that gremolata alone makes my taste buds crazy

I think they eat it every day in Tony Soprano's house  ;D

[tim]

I suppose it wouldn't work with the ambidextrous Lamb Shank??

[calendula]

ossobuco just means hollow bone so any bone with marrow in it will do and of course it would be lovely with a lamb shank - it's just that the italians would smirk - apologies to any italians on this forum  8)

[tim]

No - they should apologise for smirking.

[grawrc]

I really doubt that they would Calendula: I think Italians are amongst the most creative cooks I know ... and great substituters? They'd probably totally approve! 8)

Mind you last time I was in Italy they had loads of veal at the butcher's. They don't seem to worry too much about how it goes from being a little fluffy baby to the meat on your plate, whereas we Brits do, as a rule.

I have the same problem with foie gras d'oie. Used to love it. Then I brought home a goose liver or two from France to make the paté last Xmas. Unfortunately in the process of finding the best recipe I learnt too much about how the geese have to live and die and ended up feeding it to my 2 cocker spaniels who have no moral qualms about such things. Sad person that I am. I'll never eat it again.

[supersprout]

WOW! voted a new family favourite calendula - thanks a million! :D eat your heart out Tony Soprano ;)

[flossie]

Looks fantastic

[supersprout]

thank you flo, it tastes fantastic too - using (local) beef shin sawn through into 1" slices in calendula's recipe, it's an inexpensive luxury! :)

[Hyacinth]

Definitely one to try. Thanks a mill SS for starting the thread and Calendula for supplying the recipe 8)