Food, Uncategorized

Osso Buco (Veal Shanks)

As winter approaches I am starting a collection of hearty meals. This dish although requires a lot of cooking time, is very easy to prepare. The ingredients are pretty standard and are most likely to already be in your pantry. 
“Osso Buco” is Italian for “bone with a hole”, a reference to the marrow hole at the center of the cross-cut veal shank. Although veal shanks are known to be pretty tough, braising it for almost 3 hours makes it nice and tender. This recipe is perfect for a busy mum like me, as I can easily prepare this dish whilst the baby is sleeping during the day and just leave it slowly cooking in the pot for 2 and a half hours. By dinner time, it will be ready!
Hubby and I both loved how the flavours of this dish turned out. I’m so happy and can’t wait to cook this again! This recipe is going to be bookmarked as a classic favorite this coming winter. What’s great also is that veal shanks are only a fraction of the cost of lamb – economical and tasty!

Ingredients:
4 thick slices of veal shanks
1/4 cup plain flour
2 tsp salt
1/3 tsp ground black pepper
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 cup beef stock
1/2 cup white wine
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
1/3 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
Method:
  1. In a shallow dish, stir together flour, salt, and black pepper. Coat meat in seasoned flour. In a large skillet, melt butter with oil over medium heat. Brown meat. Remove meat from pan, and set aside.
  2. Add onion, carrots, celery, and garlic to drippings in pan. Cook and stir for about 5 minutes.
  3. Stir in can of chopped tomatoes, beef stock, white wine, basil, thyme, and parsley. Return meat to pan. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to simmer. Cover, and cook for 2 1/2 hours. 
  4. Serve on a bed of mashed potatoes.

3 thoughts on “Osso Buco (Veal Shanks)”

Leave a comment