Ossobucco is a classic Italian recipe made with braised veal shanks. The marrow bones are what give this dish it’s famous name which literally means “bone with a hole” (osso “bone”, buco “hole”). Topped with a fresh “gremolata” this slow-braised Italian recipe is amazingly tasty and surprisingly easy to cook.

Ingredients

• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 1 dry bay leaf
• Cheesecloth
• Kitchen twine, for bouquet garni and tying the veal shanks
• 3 whole veal shanks (about 1 pound per shank), trimmed
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• All purpose flour, for dredging
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 carrot, minced
• 1 stalk celery, minced
• 1-2 tbsp. tomato paste
• 200 g tomato
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 3 cups veal stock
• 3 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 2 garlic clove

Preparation

Place the rosemary, thyme, bay leaf and cloves into cheesecloth and secure with twine. This will be your bouquet garni.

For the veal shanks. Secure the meat to the bone with the kitchen twine. Season the shanks and then dredge in flour, shaking off excess.

In a large pan, heat extra virgin olive oil and butter. Add veal shanks to the hot pan and lightly brown on all sides over medium heat, about 3 minutes per side. Remove browned shanks, reserve in a separate casserole.

Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C).

In the same pan, add the onion, carrot and celery. Saute until soft and translucent. Add the tomato paste and mix well. Add the white wine and reduce liquid by half. Add the tomatoes, bouquet garni and 2 cups of the veal stock and bring to a boil. Season with salt to taste. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for about 10 minutes. Transfer to casserole, basting veal shanks with the sauce.

Bake in oven for about 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is falling off the bone. Check every 15 minutes, adding more veal stock as necessary. The level of cooking liquid should always be about 3/4 the way up the shank.

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, boil down the sauce for several minutes. Strain the sauce and then pour over the shanks and top with a little of the gremolata.

Serve preferably along with risotto all milanese.

Gremolata

Ingredients

• 1 small bunch of parsley, washed and dried (enough to make 1 cup loosely-packed)
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 organic lemons, washed and dried
• 20-30 g Parmesan

Preparation

Chop about 1 cup of parsley. Grate the garlic clove over the parsley using a zester. Grate the zest from the two lemons. Add Parmesan and mix all together. Use the gremolata right away.