Osso Buco Milanese Recipes

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:

• 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.

OSSO BUCO WITH RISOTTO MILANESE

Steps:

• For the osso buco: Sprinkle the veal with salt and pepper and heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Spread some flour on a plate, then dredge the veal in the flour on all sides and add to the oil. Brown well on both sides, 2 minutes a side. Remove to a plate.
• Add the onion, carrot and celery to the pot and cook, stirring, until the onion wilts, about 4 minutes. Stir in the rosemary and thyme. Add the white wine, increase the heat and boil until reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, broth and bay leaves. Reduce the heat so that the liquid is simmering gently, and nestle in the veal. Add water, if necessary, to come three-quarters of the way up the sides of the meat. Cover and cook until the veal is tender and a paring knife inserted in the meat slides out easily (insert the knife in several pieces to make sure all are done), 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes. Remove the veal to a plate.
• Strain the sauce into a fat separator, pressing on the solids. Wipe out the Dutch oven. Pour the defatted sauce back into the Dutch oven and reduce over high heat until thickened and the sauce just coats the back of a spoon. Cut the strings on the osso buco and return the meat to the sauce. Remove from the heat, cover and keep warm while you make the risotto.
• For the risotto Milanese: Combine the broth and 2 cups water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer and add the saffron, then turn the heat very low to just keep warm. Heat a medium Dutch oven over medium heat, then add the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the onion, 1/2 teaspoon salt and several grinds of black pepper; cook until softened but not browned, 4 to 5 minutes.
• Add the rice and cook, stirring, to coat the grains in the oil, about 2 minutes. Add the white wine, bring to a simmer and cook until absorbed, about 2 minutes. Add enough of the hot broth to just cover the rice. Simmer, stirring occasionally until almost totally absorbed. Continue to add broth and stir until the rice is creamy and al dente, about 18 minutes from the first addition. (The risotto will be a bit soupy at this point.)
• Remove from the heat. Stir in the butter and Parmesan until melted and creamy. Season with salt and pepper.
• For the gremolata: Combine the parsley, garlic and lemon zest in a small bowl.
• Spoon the risotto into 4 shallow wide bowls. Top each serving with a piece of osso buco and spoon the sauce over the top. Sprinkle with the gremolata.

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.

OSSO BUCO MILANESE

Steps:

• In a plastic bag, combine the flour, salt and pepper. Add the veal shanks and coat them with the flour mixture.
• Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat and brown the veal on both sides.
• Remove the veal, and reduce the heat.
• Add butter, carrots, onion, celery, bay leaves, marjoram, basil, parsley, lemon rind and saute for 5 minutes.
• Add wine and continue cooking for 5 minutes more.
• Stir in tomatoes and broth.
• Place veal in a casserole with the sauce and bake, covered, at 325 degrees F for 2 hours.
• Note, if you have fresh basil or marjoram, you can use 3 tablespoons, finely chopped.

OSSO BUCO MILANESE

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• 2. Season the veal shanks generously with salt and pepper. Dredge the shanks in flour and shake away any excess.
• 3. Heat the oil in an ovenproof casserole or Dutch oven over high heat until it shimmers. Sear the veal shanks in the oil, turning as necessary, until they have a good color on all sides, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove them to a platter and cover loosely with foil.
• 4. Add the onion, carrot, and 2 teaspoons minced garlic to the hot oil and sauté over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the onion is a deep golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste and sauté, stirring frequently, until the tomato paste turns a rust color, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the wine and stir well to dissolve the tomato paste.
• 5. Return the veal shanks to the casserole along with any juices they may have released and add enough broth to cover the shanks by about 1/2. Bring the broth to a simmer, cover the casserole, and place it in the oven. Braise the shanks, turning them as necessary to keep them evenly moistened, until they are very tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Transfer the shanks to a serving platter and keep warm while finishing the sauce.
• 6. Strain the sauce, return it to the casserole, and bring it to a boil over high heat, skimming the surface as necessary. Reduce the heat to low simmer until the sauce has a lightly thickened consistency, about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• 7. Combine the remaining garlic, the lemon zest, parsley, and anchovy fillets to form the gremolata. Serve the shanks on heated plates garnished with the gremolata.

OSSO BUCO MILANESE

Steps:

• Combine flour, salt and pepper in a plastic bag.
• Add veal shanks and coat with flour mixture.
• Heat oil in a large skillet and brown veal on both sides.
• Remove veal from skillet, reduce heat and add butter, carrots, onion, celery, garlic, bay leaves, marjoram, basil, parsley and lemon rind.
• Saute for 5 minutes.
• Add wine and continue cooking for 5 minute more.
• Stir in tomatoes and broth.
• Place veal in a casserole with the sauce and bake, covered, at 325 for 2 hours.
• Garnish with gremolata.