Marks Osso Buco Alla Fiorentina Recipes

MARK'S OSSO BUCO ALLA FIORENTINA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Sprinkle the veal shanks with salt and pepper. Spread about 1/2 cup flour on a plate, and dredge the shanks in flour, shaking off any excess.
• In a heavy ovenproof pot with a lid, heat vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the shanks, and cook until lightly browned on both sides, turning once. Transfer to a plate, and turn off the heat. Using paper towels, carefully wipe out the pot.
• Add olive oil to pot, and heat over medium heat. Add carrot, celery, and onion, and cook until the onion is wilted, about 3 minutes. Add the shanks and tomatoes, wine, stock, thyme, sage, or oregano, zest, and salt and pepper to taste, and bring to a simmer. Cover, and bake about 2 1/2 hours, until the veal is very tender. Taste for salt and pepper, and serve immediately.

OSSO BUCO

Steps:

• 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 and 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.

TRADITIONAL OSSO BUCO

Steps:

• Dust the veal shanks lightly with flour. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the veal, and cook until browned on the outside. Remove to a bowl, and keep warm. Add two cloves of crushed garlic and onion to the skillet; cook and stir until onion is tender. Return the veal to the pan and mix in the carrot and wine. Simmer for 10 minutes.
• Pour in the tomatoes and beef stock, and season with salt and pepper. Cover, and simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 hours, basting the veal every 15 minutes or so. The meat should be tender, but not falling off the bone.
• In a small bowl, mix together the parsley, 1 clove of garlic and lemon zest. Sprinkle the gremolata over the veal just before serving.

OSSO BUCO

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Heat vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-low heat until very hot. Place flour in a shallow dish. Season veal shanks with salt and pepper; dredge in flour, shaking off excess. Working in batches if necessary, add shanks to Dutch oven (they should sizzle immediately). Cook, turning, until browned on all sides, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove veal shanks from Dutch oven and set aside.
• Add onion, carrots, celery, and leek to Dutch oven; cook, stirring, until softened and lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Add bay leaf, thyme, oregano, tomatoes, wine, and stock. Return veal shanks to Dutch oven and bring to a simmer. Cover and transfer to oven; cook, checking occasionally to make sure the liquid is still simmering, until meat is very tender, about 2 1/2 hours.
• Remove from oven and transfer shanks to a platter; cover with parchment paper-lined aluminum foil to keep warm. Place Dutch oven over medium heat; simmer until sauce is thickened, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Return shanks to Dutch oven to heat through and coat with sauce. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and lemon zest; serve.

PAPPARDELLE WITH OSSO BUCO SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400 degrees. Trim silver skin from veal. Heat a Dutch oven coated with olive-oil cooking spray over medium heat until very hot. Add veal; cook until browned, turning as needed, about 5 minutes. Add onion, carrots, celery, and red pepper; stir to combine. Reduce heat to medium low, and cook until vegetables are softened, about 6 minutes. Increase heat to high, and add wine; cook until almost all the wine has evaporated, about 5 minutes.
• Add chicken stock, mushrooms, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Place cover on Dutch oven; transfer to oven. Cook 1 hour; remove lid, and continue cooking until veal is falling off the bone and sauce is quite thick, about 1 hour 10 minutes more. Using a wooden spoon, break the veal into smaller pieces, and remove the bones. Stir in crushed red-pepper flakes.
• Bring a large stockpot of water to a boil while osso-buco sauce is finishing. Cook pappardelle until al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain in a colander, and transfer to bowls; top with sauce. Garnish with chopped rosemary, and serve.

OSSO BUCO ALLA GINO

Steps:

• Saute onion in half of the butter in a wide shallow skillet until soft and golden. Dust the veal shanks with flour, and then fry them in the same skillet, turning several times until they are golden on all sides. Stand them on their side to prevent the marrow in the bones from slipping out during cooking.
• Add the fresh mushrooms, carrots, celery and season with salt and pepper. Add sage and simmer for 4 minutes. Add the wine and let evaporate. Add the tomatoes and veal stock and simmer gently for about 1 hour, or until cooked and tender. Add more wine if sauce reduces too quickly.

OSSO BUCO ALLA MILANESE

Steps:

• Melt the oil in a heavy casserole large enough to hold the veal in a single layer. Dust shank pieces with flour and lightly brown on all sides over medium heat. You may find the browning easier if you do not put all the shanks in the pan at once. Do not allow them to become dark or blackened. Remove the shanks from the casserole and lower heat.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• To the casserole, add onions, carrots and celery and saute, stirring until they begin to soften. Add garlic and saute a minute longer. Add wine and cook over medium-high heat, scraping the pan until all the brown bits clinging to it have dissolved. Stir in the tomatoes, stock and thyme.
• Return the shanks to the casserole, basting with the sauce. Season with salt and pepper, cover and bake in the preheated oven about one and one-half hours until the meat is tender when pierced with a fork. Baste the shanks several times during baking.
• Remove shanks to a serving dish and keep warm. Taste sauce and season with salt and pepper if necessary. If the sauce is too thin (it should be about the consistency of cream), place the pan on top of the stove and boil down the sauce for several minutes.
• Pour sauce over the shanks and top with a little of the gremolata. Pass the rest on the side.