Our Recipes
Ossobuco is a classic Italian dish from Milano, in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy.
The main ingredient is a lowly cut of meat, veal shank. But infuse a lot of time into this ingredient and you will end up with a mouth-watering, heart-warming stew. Perfect for those fall and winter months!
The recipe starts not with the meat, but with the preparation of the vegetables.
Dice carrots, celery, onion (the combination would be called Mirepoix in French cuisine and Soffrito in the Italian kitchen) and finely cut garlic. It is up to you to determine the size of the dice. As the dice will be recognizable in the finished dish, ask yourself if you want to go finer or larger, and a more rustic end product. Once prepped, turn you attention to the meat.
Dust the shanks with flour and freshly ground black pepper. Melt butter in a large skillet; add some olive oil (never use extra virgin olive oil for frying). Once the pan is very hot, brown the shanks on both sides, then take our and set aside.
Into that same skillet now add the vegetables with the exception of the garlic; stir regularly. After about five minutes, the vegetables will have started browning somewhat. Add the garlic and fry for another minute (this prevents the garlic from burning and tasting bitter).
Now comes the dilemma: oven or stove? Both work, so whatever you prefer is fine.
Transfer the fried vegetables and garlic into a larger pan or oven dish, add tomato passata, some water, and herbs. Classical herbs are bay leaves (three or four), thyme and parsley. Opinion differs on basil (and when to add it). Mix and and the veal shanks. Make sure they are covered by the mixture.
Put a lid on pan or oven dish and simmer on a low heat for at least two and a half hours (time is your friend).
When done, the meat will easily come off the bone. Some people prefer to remove the bone from the mixture. But I think it looks more authentic and rustic to leave the bone in the pan or oven dish.
Serve as a main course with potatoes, gnocchi or pasta. Buen apetito!