Osso Buco ala Milanese

Suddenly, I missed slow cooked dishes like stews.  Nothing is comforting than a good, rich and flavorful stew.  Last night, I happened to come across a photo of osso buco.  Now, if I can only grab a bite out of my computer screen… 

For tonight’s dinner, I cooked osso buco.  

 

Osso buco is a Milanese dish of veal shanks cut crosswise, braised in vegetables – onions, celery, carrots (the trinity in the culinary world; the French call mirepoix), white wine and broth.  It is traditonally served with Risotto ala Milanese (saffron risotto). Braising is done for tough cuts of meat.   It usually take hours to break down the tough connective tissues and tenderize the meat.  Braising brings out the rich flavor of the meat, most especially if using bone-in cuts like the shanks.

For this recipe, I used beef shanks.  Veal shanks are expensive and not readily available, often found in specialty food stores like Santi’s.  

mirepoix

I made a lot changes in this recipe to accommodate my limited stocked kitchen. The recipe calls for white wine, I skipped this since I don’t stock up on wines.  My oven and pressure cooker broke years ago and haven’t been fixed and replaced.  I just have to make do by slowly simmering for hours, which in my opinion brings out more of the meat’s flavor.   I also did away with gremolata, a mixture of parsely, lemon zest, garlic and olive oil used to garnish the dish, because my kids might not like it.

 

Here’s my recipe:

3 pieces beef shank

1 large white onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

3 stalks celery, diced

4-5 cloves garlic

2 tbsps tomato paste

1 can diced tomatoes

4 cups of broth

Flour for dredging the shanks,

Salt & pepper to taste

Olive oil

Thyme sprigs, bay leaf

Season beef shanks with salt & pepper and dredge with flour. Sear the shanks in pan with a tablespoon of olive oil (or butter) until browned on each side.  Set aside.

In a braising pan, heat olive oil.  Sweat the carrots, celery and onions until soft.  Add the garlic. Add tomato paste and continue to stir for a few more minutes.  Add the diced tomatoes, thyme, bay leaf.

Add the beef shanks on top of the mixture of vegetables.  Deglazed the pan used to sear the shanks with white wine (I deglazed mine with the broth. )  Add the deglazing liquid to the braising pan.  Add more broth to cover the shanks. 

Let boil.  Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat to very low. Cover the pan and let simmer for 2-3 hours or until the meat is falling-off-the-bone tender.  Add more broth if it starts to go dry.  Adjust seasoning according to taste. 

Note:  if you want the sauce to be thicker, add a mixture of flour and olive oil browned in another pan (roux). If you can get fresh thyme, the better. but you can use the dried thyme like McKormik.

I served this with rice (brown rice for me) and steamed broccoli.