Osso Buco

Let me tell you about my week – actually, the last couple of weeks. First, Anya got a bad cold and stayed home from school for a day. Then Sam got (the same?) cold and stayed home from nursery for three days. Then I got the flu followed by an infection – the fun we had. After that Anya got a different, much worse, cold and has been home for three days; Sam naturally caught her cold and so on… In the meantime our cat Xander had to have most of his ear cut off due to skin cancer. He is currently moping around with a cone around his head, thoroughly miserable.

But, lest you think this isn’t bad enough, the icing on the cake came on Sunday when my beloved iMac – not even two years old – died a death. All efforts to revive him were in vain, there’s hard drive damage. I can’t actually descrive how terrifying it is to have your computer refuse to start up – even more so since I hadn’t backed up my work (I know, I know… I was in the process of doing it). Silver lining I was able to rescue most of my files but it will cost £400 to fix it.. which is money I don’t currently have to throw around. This blogpost is broadcast from my much older Mac which, bizarelly, is still working, albeit with regular crashing/freezing breaks. If we discovered that we had inadertedly unearthed an Indian burial ground during our kitchen works I would not be in the least surprised – that’s some serious jinxing going on. Anyone know of any good luck spells?

In these times of trouble I literally had to turn to good food and good wine to keep me sane – the wine courtesy of Lindeman’s who provided some much-needed bottled sunshine when there was no real or metaphorical sunshine to be found anywhere. Lets just say that a bottle of Bin 50 Shiraz was all that kept me from breaking down in tears of exhausted frustration. Lindeman’s is offering Supergolden Bakes readers some good cheer – scroll down for the chance to win one of four Lindeman’s boxes containing white, rosé and red wine.

And now for the good food… I haven’t eaten Osso Buco for absolute ages but it was on my cooking list and I finally found the right cut of veal for it so I had to make it. Osso Buco means ‘bone with a hole’ and you will need thickly-cut bone-in veal shanks in order to make the authentic Italian recipe. The meat is gently braised with vegetables, white wine and stock to create a dish that’s really easy to prepare and a joy to eat. Serve with gremolata and risotto, polenta or creamy mash – not forgetting some red wine – for a truly memorable meal.

Osso Buco
Serves 4
4 thickly cut veal shanks (shin), preferably from hind legs
4 tbsp plain flour, generously seasoned with salt and pepper
2 tbsp light olive oil, more if needed
2 tbsp unsalted butter
4-5 garlic cloves, chopped
2 onions, finely diced
1 celery stick, finely diced
1 large carrot, finely diced
zest of 1 orange
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp tomato paste
250ml | 9fl oz | 1 cup white wine (I used Lindeman’s Bin 65 Chardonnay)
250ml | 9fl oz | 1 cup hot chicken or vegetable stock

For the gremolata
Small bunch flat leaf parsley, stems removed
zest of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves, finely diced

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Put the flour on a plate and season with salt and pepper. Coat the veal with the flour, shaking off any excess.
2. Heat the oil and butter in a large ovenproof casserole dish and brown the veal on both sides. Remove the meat and set aside.
3. Add the diced vegetables and cook, stirring ocassionally, for about 10 minutes until soft. Make sure you scrape and mix in any browned bits from the bottom of the casserole.
4. Add the stock, wine, tomato paste, bay leaf and orange zest, stir them in and bring to a rolling simmer. Return the meat to the casserole, cover, and trasfer to the oven.
5. Cook for 1 1/2 hours – stirring halfway through and adding bit more stock if needed – until the meat is very tender. Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper, if needed.
6. Finely chop the parsley and mix with the garlic and lemon zest to make the gremolata. Serve the osso buco over polenta, mash or risotto spooning the sauce on top and sprinkling with the gremolata.