Recipe from the Viamala Fokus issue 4 / 2024.
Ossobuco
| 4 slices | Veal shank |
| Flour for dusting | |
| Plenty of olive oil | |
| 500 g | Mixed celery, carrots and onions, all finely diced |
| 120 g | Mushrooms, chopped |
| Good white wine | |
| 400 g | chopped tomatoes (I use tinned tomatoes here because they are simply riper) |
| Around 1 liter | Poultry stock |
| Salt and pepper |
Cremolata
| Zest of one organic lemon | |
| 1-2 | finely chopped garlic clove |
| Finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, basil and rosemary | |
| 50-100 gram | soft butter, depending on the size of the shanks |
Preparation
Season the veal shank with salt and pepper and dredge on both sides in flour. Heat the olive oil in a large pan; it must not smoke. The pan must be large enough so that all the shanks are in contact with the hot bottom of the pan, otherwise sear twice. Sear the shanks for 10-15 minutes, remove and keep ready.
Pour off the frying oil, but do not rinse the pan, and pour new oil into the pan. Sauté the diced vegetables and mushrooms in it (approx. 10-15 minutes over a medium heat), stirring regularly. Towards the end, increase the heat and deglaze generously with good white wine. When the wine has reduced well, add the slices of meat and top up with the tomatoes and chicken stock. Enough liquid is needed to cover the shanks well.
Bring the contents of the pan to the boil once, reduce the heat, put a lid on and simmer for 2-2.5 hours until the shanks are very tender. Remove the lid for the last half hour to allow the sauce to reduce a little.
The beauty of this dish is that you have plenty of time to set the table, prepare the other ingredients and side dishes and enjoy a glass of wine in between.
Mix all the ingredients for the cremolata together to make a kind of herb butter. Remove the meat from the pan, arrange in a shallow dish with sides, brush with half of the cremolata butter and keep warm. Increase the heat in the pan and reduce the sauce to the desired consistency. Finally, turn off the heat, stir the rest of the cremolata butter into the sauce, season to taste and spread over the meat.
A word about the poultry stock: you can of course buy it as a paste and then mix it. If you want it to be really nice, I proceed as follows:
I prepare a chicken in the oven for the family, using any suitable recipe. At the end of this dinner, I put the carcasses of the chicken in a large pot, add roughly chopped carrots, celeriac, leeks and a few bay leaves and peppercorns, fill it all up with cold water and bring it to the boil. At the same time, cut a large onion in half with the skin on and roast the cut side in a pan without fat until very dark. Place a clove in each onion half and cook with the stock. Skim off the foam and then simmer over a low heat for hours. (The stock can also be left overnight and cooked again the next day.) For the last two hours, add the flat-leaf parsley and beef marrow bones; we will need the marrow for the risotto.) Strain and season to taste with salt and pepper
I always serve a risotto alla parmigiana with the ossobuco, and it serves 4 people:
Sauté a large onion, finely chopped, 4 cloves, two bay leaves and saffron threads as well as the marrow from the bones in olive oil. Add 200 g risotto rice and sauté briefly. Deglaze with white wine and reduce over a high heat. Then keep adding chicken stock and reduce. Repeat until the risotto is still firm to the bite and has a creamy consistency. Add the grated Parmesan and cold butter, stir and season to taste. If necessary, add a little stock so that the risotto comes out "all'onda", i.e. quite creamy.