Osso Buco Recipe (Italian Braised Veal Shanks)
I've made osso buco, an Italian dish of braised veal shanks, several times. I've eaten it in fine Italian restaurants but I've never really liked it until now.
Ingrédients
- 3 whole veal shanks (about 1 pound per shank), trimmed
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
- 2 dry bay leaf
- 3 whole cloves minced
- Cheesecloth
- Kitchen twine, for bouquet garni and tying the veal shanks
- 1/2 teaspoon Sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- All purpose flour, for dredging
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 small carrot, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 stalk celery, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
- 3 teapoons tomato paste
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 3 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon salted butter
- 1 pinch of safron
- 1/4 teaspoon of cumin seed
Instructions
- 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,safron and cumin 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.
Notes
Recipe Notes:
- Osso Buco are thick steaks cut from veal shanks. The thicker, the better, as if they are too thin, they will cook to “fall apart” too quickly without developing enough flavour. This recipe can also be made with beef but note that beef flavour is stronger than veal. Veal has the some red colour as beef but it has a more delicate flavour.
- Osso Buco is traditionally served with saffron rissoto, Risotto Milanese. Here’s how to make it: If using saffron threads (expensive!), place 2 pinches in a bowl and add 2 tbsp hot water, set aside for 15 minutes. Or, use ¼ tsp Saffron powder. Add the Saffron when you add the broth following this Chicken and Mushroom Risotto recipe, but skip the chicken and mushrooms.
- Nutrition per serving, Osso Buco only. I was unable to find a reliable nutrition information for veal shanks (because of the bone, I think) so I used 1 kg / 2 lb of beef chuck which I think is a fair substitution, possibly even more conservative from a fat perspective.