Ossobuco Alla Milanese Recipes

OSSO BUCO MILANESE

Steps:

• In a large shallow platter, season flour with salt and pepper. Dredge the veal shanks in the mixture and tap off any excess. In a large heavy skillet or Dutch oven, over medium flame, heat the oil and butter. Sear the shanks on all sides, turn bones on sides to hold in marrow. Add more oil and butter if needed. Remove the browned veal shanks and set aside.
• Add onion, celery, carrots, garlic, bay leaves and parsley to the pan and cook until softened. Season with salt and pepper. Raise the heat to high, add the wine and deglaze the pan. Return the shanks to the pan, add the stock and tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for about 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender. Baste the meat a few times during cooking. Remove the cover, continue to simmer for 10 minutes to reduce the sauce a bit.
• For gremolata: combine all ingredients together in a small bowl. Strew the gremolata over the osso buco before serving. Serve osso buco with Saffron Risotto.
• In a saucepan, bring chicken broth to a simmer. Keep warm over low heat.
• In a large saute pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add oil and rice and cook for 2 minutes, stirring to coat each grain. When rice begins to make a crackling sound, add saffron threads. Add 1 cup of the warm chicken broth and cook, stirring, until the rice has absorbed the liquid. Add the remaining broth, 1 cup at a time. Continue to stir, allowing the rice to absorb each addition of broth before adding more. Test the rice for doneness, it should be al dente but creamy. Remove risotto from heat, add grated cheese, salt and pepper. Serve at once with Osso Buco Milanese.
• Yield: 4 servings

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.

OSSOBUCO ALLA MILANESE

Steps:

• Veal shanks should be sawed into 8 pieces about 2" long.
• Can sub chicken or beef for veal stock.
• Just make sure that it's either homemade or low sodium.
• Spread flour on a plate or on waxed paper.
• Tomatoes should be with their juice.
• Preheat oven to 350.
• Choose a heavy casserole with a tight fitting lid that is just large enough to contain the veal pieces.
• Use two casseroles if necessary.
• Put the onion, carrot, celery, and butter and cook over medium heat for 8-10 minutes, until the vegetables soften and wilt.
• Add the chopped garlic and lemon peel at the end.
• Remove from the heat.
• Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
• Turn the trussed pieces of veal in the flour, shaking off any excess.
• When the oil is quite hot (test it with the corner of one of the pieces of veal: a moderate sizzle means the heat is just right), brown the veal on all sides.
• (Brown the veal as soon as it has been dipped in flour, otherwise the flour may dampen, and the meat won't brown properly).
• Stand the pieces of veal side by side on top of the vegetables in the casserole.
• Tip the skillet and draw off nearly all the fat with a spoon.
• Add the wine and boil briskly for about 3 minutes, scraping up and loosening any browning residue stuck to the pan.
• Pour over the pieces of veal in the casserole.
• In the same skillet, bring the broth to a simmer and pour into the casserole.
• Add the chopped tomatoes with their juice, the thyme, basil, bay leaves, parsley, pepper and salt.
• (Hold off on salt until after cooking if you are using canned beef broth. It is sometimes very salty).
• The broth should come up to the top of the veal pieces.
• If it does not, add more.
• Bring the contents of the casserole to a simmer on top of the stove.
• Cover tightly and place in the lower third of the preheated oven.
• Cook for about 2 hours, carefully turning and basting the veal pieces every 20 minutes.
• When done, they should be very tender when pricked with a fork, and their sauce should be dense and creamy.
• (if, while the veal is cooking, there is not enough liquid in the casserole, you may add up to 1/3 cup of warm water).
• If the reverse is true, and the sauce is too thin when the veal is done, remove the meat to warm platter, place the uncovered casserole on top of the stove, and over high heat briskly boil the sauce until it thickens.
• Pour the sauce over the veal and serve piping hot.
• NOTE When transferring the veal pieces to the serving platter, carefully remove the trussing strings without breaking up the shanks.
• GREMOLADA Marcella recommends against making it, but if you must try it yourself, the ingredients are as follows: one teaspoon of grated lemon peel, 1/4 teaspoon very finely chopped garlic and 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley.
• Gremolada is sprinkled over the veal shanks just as they finish cooking.