Do You “Osso Buco”? Well I Do!
It’s one of the best looking plates I’ve made, and it happened my first time making Osso Buco!
FYI, “osso buco” is Italian for ‘bone with a hole’ (osso: ‘bone’, buco: ‘hole’), a reference to the marrow hole at the center of the cross-cut veal shank. I don’t cook like this much and it was time to change that!
Here’s the recipe I followed and how it turned out!
Well, it all begins with the perfect “Veal Shanks”, braised with vegetables and served over polenta or mashed potatoes…and since the terrific food store “Eataly” had these beautiful shanks, I had to try and make them!
Let’s begin with the ingredients list, led by those mighty Veal Shanks!
Osso buco / Veal Shanks with bone in
One Onion – One Carrot – lots of Garlic – one stalk of Celery
You will also need:
Fresh Mushrooms Crushed Canned Tomatoes – Beef Broth or Water
Salt – Pepper – Ground Smoky Paprika 2 tsp – Ground Turmeric 1 tsp – Dried basil 1 tsp – Bay leaf
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, then grab a dish that you can put directly into the oven later. Heat the olive oil and cook each side of the Osso Buco / Veal Shank for 2 to 3 minutes…they will look like this before and after you flip them:
| Set the meat on a plate and sauté chopped onion in the same oil for a few minutes, stirring regularly, until translucent and golden brown. Add carrots and do the same… |
Add crushed canned tomatoes, water or broth, your fresh mushrooms and then the spices that give it a pop: salt, freshly ground pepper, ground paprika, turmeric and dried basil.
Simmer it for a few minutes, taking time to stir everything in, then it’s time to put the Veal Shank back into the pot and put the entire thing in the oven…oh, this already smells REALLY GOOD!
While the Veal Shanks are cooking in the oven, time to make some sauce, and for that, you need the greenest parsley you’ve ever cooked with:
First, grate some lemon zest into a bowl…I say it’s a matter of taste, but I really enjoy the tart nature of the grated skin:
It’s very simple: just fresh parsley chopped up with lemon zest, lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper…oh, and I made mashed potatoes for the base of the dish – except my wife didn’t want carbs, so she got a cauliflower mash:
Now, it ws time to take the Osso Buco out of the oven – my wife Alex was happy to film the moment, and listen for her reaction to the dish when revealed:
Remember that those shanks have a big bone in the middle, and that’s filled with bone marrow – a delicious bonus!
Now, time to plate the dish:
Of course, every cooking effort is filled with mistakes and missteps, and so, in the interest of full disclosure, I have this clip of me cleaning the plate before I serve it – Alex offering up commenting along the way:
OK, now that the cleanup is done, simply put some of your parsley topping on and here is what you can sit down and devour:
The Osso Buco itself was delicious: tender, falling off the bone – and the cooked vegetables were a nice creamy addition, with the fresh bite of the parsley and lemon zest to give it a pop at the end…
As I said, the bone marrow was easily scooped out and it was delicious as well!
Bone marrow isn’t offered nearly enough – so good on a piece of crusty bread! Here’s another classic dish I made:
I followed Julia Child’s recipe precisely and made a beautiful Boeuf Bourguidnon – here is the step-by-step process:
I also like to make special “dinner and a movie” dishes as well, like this one:
Yes, this was my “Seafood Newburg” dish to honor “Downton Abbey” – click here to see all of the ingredients and how it turned out:
Hope this made you hungry!
Food and Hollywood have a very long relationship – and here’s a legendary restaurant that’s been part of both for more than 100 years!
Musso & Frank serves the best food in town to the biggest stars in the world!
See why by clicking only story here:
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Categories: Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Chef memoirs, Cookbooks, Eat This!, Fine Dining, Food, Food Porn, Recipes, Wacky Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
Definitely photo worthy John! Those king mushrooms are magnificent as well!
perfect timing, the answer to my nyt crossword clue!)
HA!
Looks fabulous! I love gremolata.
I would love to cook this, but it is hard to source veal shanks in the UK these days due to protests about veal production and forced-feeding of milk to calves. When you can find it, it is usually imported from Holland.
Best wishes, Pete.
I didn’t realize that Pete…for me it’s a nice “annual” dish, no need to do it often!
Looks so good… and beautifully styled too…
Thank you, it’s a fun but big undertaking and a nice meal for a special occasion!