Cesarina In Training

Passport & Plate - Osso Bucco

Italy | Tuesday, March 11, 2014 | flickr photos

Ingredients
4 2" thick veal shank pieces, preferably meaty hind shanks
1/4 cup flour
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
1 medium celery stalk, finely chopped
3 thyme sprigs
2 parsley sprigs
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 medium garlic cloves, minced
1-1/2 cups brown veal stock or rich chicken stock
1- 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
3 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 small garlic clove, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel

 

How to prepare this recipe
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Pat veal dry and tie each piece around center with kitchen twine. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour, patting off excess. Melt butter with oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add veal and brown on all sides. Transfer to plate.
Reduce heat to low. Add onion, carrot and celery to skillet. Stir until vegetables are tender, scraping up browned bits, about 5 minutes. Tie thyme, parsley sprigs and bay leaf in cheesecloth. Add to skillet. Mix in wine and garlic. Boil until most of the liquid evaporates, stirring constantly. Return veal, bone side up to skillet. Add stock and tomatoes. Return to boil. Cover, transfer to oven and bake until veal is very tender when pierced with tip of a sharp knife, about 1-1/2 hours.
Discard herb bag. Transfer veal to serving platter. Stir tomato paste into sauce. Boil until reduced to about 2 cups, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning. Return veal to skillet with sauce. Cover and bring sauce to simmer and warm for two more minutes.
For gremolata: Mix parsley, garlic and lemon peel; sprinkle evenly over veal and sauce. Transfer veal and sauce to serving platter or to individual plates. Sprinkle evenly with gremolata.
Traditionally served with Risotto Milanese.

 

The story behind this recipe
When the holidays come around and I ask my family what we should have for Christmas Eve dinner, they enthusiastically ask for Osso Bucco. It’s the dish that says, “Christmas” to us - warm and comforting, with layers of incredibly tender meat over a mound of sticky-soft risotto. We take turns stirring the risotto in a special pot. My husband reads the poem “Osso Bucco” by Billy Collins at the conclusion of the meal and we end the evening full and content. I’d like to say that I learned to make Osso Bucco from my Italian grandmother, but in fact I got the recipe from my Italian aunt-by-marriage after I had become an adult.
Aunt Pauline was born in Italy, an only child to a single mother, growing up on a family farm in Tuscany. The setting sounds idyllic, but Pauline’s grandfather was a cruel taskmaster and her future didn’t hold much promise. At 17, she made the voyage alone to America to live with the father she had never met. She went to work for him in his tailor shop, learned English and learned to cook. She met my Uncle Gene when they were both near fifty. They never had children.
After my parents passed away, our young family began making the trip from Florida to Chicago to spend the holidays with Uncle Gene and Aunt Pauline. They became like grandparents to our sons. Every night of our visit, Aunt Pauline would prepare a wonderful Italian meal and we would sit around their table in the basement for hours, eating, drinking and talking, the soundtrack from the movie “Big Night” playing in the background. I often helped her in the kitchen and watched closely to learn her recipes and techniques. Our favorite dish of hers was Osso Bucco.
Uncle Gene passed away and Pauline followed a few years later. I inherited her cast aluminum porridge pot, which I use to make risotto and I think of her every time I use it. Great cooks leave their imprint on the tools they used and I hope to be able to bring her skills and love to my own kitchen.