OSSO BUCCO

Slow Cooker Osso Bucco

There are two tricks to this otherwise hands-off recipe: browning the veal shanks before they go into the slow cooker and reducing the sauce before serving (if you have a slow-cooker with a stovetop-safe insert, you don’t even have to dirty another pan). The result is an osso buco you’d be hard-pressed to distinguish from the labor-intensive classic (trust us). Serve it with saffron-scented Risotto alla Milanese, like they do in Italy.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• Four 1-1/2- to 2-inch-thick veal shanks (about 2-1/2 lb.)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 Tbs. unsalted butter
• 1 cup dry white wine
• One 14-1/2-oz. can diced tomatoes
• 3/4 cup lower-salt chicken broth
• 1 small red onion, chopped (1-1/2 cups)
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds (1/2 cup)
• 1 stalk celery, chopped (1/2 cup)
• 5 sprigs fresh thyme
• 3 Tbs. finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 Tbs. finely grated lemon zest
• 1 large clove garlic, minced (1 tsp.)

Nutritional Information

Preparation

• Put the flour in a wide, shallow dish. Season the veal shanks all over with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour; shake off the excess flour.Heat a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add the butter, and when it foams, add the shanks to the skillet. Cook until golden, turning once, about 10 minutes. Transfer the shanks to a slow cooker.
  Add the wine to the skillet. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet and pour the contents of the skillet into the slow cooker. Add the tomatoes and their juices, chicken broth, onion, carrot, celery, and thyme. Cover and cook on low heat for 6 to 8 hours—the meat will be very tender and almost falling off the bone.
  Transfer the shanks to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm. Pour the sauce from the slow cooker into a large skillet. Simmer over medium heat until reduced to about 2 cups, 10 to 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the parsley, lemon zest, and garlic to make a gremolata. Serve the veal shanks topped with the sauce and the gremolata.

Make the entire meal a classic: Serve with Risotto alla Milanese (Risotto with Parmesan & Saffron).

Osso Bucco

Servings: 6

This classic braised veal from northern Italy is the world’s best make-ahead dish—it tastes amazing on the second day. The classic accompaniment is saffron-scented Risotto alla Milanese. For a slightly simpler take on this classic, try our Slow-Cooker Osso Buco.

Ingredients

• 6 1-1/4 inch-thick veal shanks
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour for dredging
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbs. unsalted butter
• 3 cups finely diced yellow onion (about 2 medium onions)
• 1 cup finely diced celery (about 2 stalks)
• 3/4 cup finely diced carrot (about 2 small carrots)
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 Tbs. tomato paste
• 1 28-oz. can Italian plum tomatoes, drained and chopped, juices reserved
• 1 cup low-salt chicken broth, more if needed
• 1 large sprig thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 Tbs. arrowroot mixed with 2 tsp. broth or water

For the gremolata:

• 3 Tbs. finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbs. finely grated lemon zest
• 2 anchovy fillets, minced

Nutritional Information

Preparation

• Heat the oven to 350°F.
• Tie the veal shanks around the middle with kitchen string (if they’re not tied already) and season them with salt and pepper. Put the flour in a dish. Dredge the shanks very lightly in flour, thoroughly shaking off the excess.
• Have ready a roasting pan or baking dish large enough to hold the shanks in a single layer (9×13-inch works well). In a large heavy skillet, heat 3 Tbs. of the oil over medium-high heat. Put three veal shanks in the pan and sear until nicely browned on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Move the shanks to the roasting pan. Repeat with the remaining three shanks.
  
• Carefully pour off the fat in the pan and wipe it out with paper towels (it’s fine if the browned bits remain in the pan bottom; just wipe away the used oil). Return the pan to medium heat and add the butter and remaining 1 Tbs. of oil. When the butter is melted, add the onion, celery, carrot, oregano, and 1 tsp. salt. Cook the vegetables, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high, add the wine, and cook, scraping up any brown bits with a wooden spoon, until the wine is reduced to about 1/4 cup, about 3 minutes
• Stir in the tomato paste. Add the tomatoes with their juices, the broth, thyme, bay leaf, 1/2 tsp. salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Bring to a boil, and pour the contents of the pan over the shanks. Cover tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil.
• Braise the veal in the oven until fork-tender, 1-1/2 to 2 hours, checking the liquid occasionally. If it has cooked down, add enough broth to keep the level about halfway up the shanks. To check for doneness, pierce a shank with a fork. The meat should pull apart easily. Taste a morsel—it should feel soft and tender. Do not overcook, or the veal will fall apart.
• Gently brush most of the vegetable bits off the shanks. With a wide, flat metal spatula, carefully transfer the veal shanks to a dish. Strain the pan juices through a medium-mesh sieve into a saucepan, pressing hard on the solids with a spatula to extract as much sauce as you can. Bring the sauce to a simmer. Whisk in the arrowroot mixture and cook briefly to thicken. If you’re working ahead, stop here (see Make-ahead Tips for reheating).

Make the gremolata:

• Just before finishing the sauce and serving, combine the parsley, garlic, lemon zest, and anchovies. Add two Tbs. of the gremolata to the sauce. Remove the strings from the shanks. Serve the osso buco topped with the sauce and a small sprinkling of the remaining gremolata.

Make Ahead Tips

To make the osso buco ahead, braise the veal and strain and thicken the sauce with arrowroot. Wipe the roasting pan clean, return the shanks to the pan, and pour the sauce over the shanks. Let them cool at room temperature for an hour, cover well, and refrigerate for up to two days. To reheat, cover the pan with foil and set in a 325°F oven until the shanks are hot, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer the shanks to a dish, then make the gremolata, adding it to the sauce and sprinkling it over the shanks.

• Bay Leaves
 
• Black Peppercorns
• Braised
 
• Braising
 
• All-purpose Flour
• Olive Oil

Tip

Look for arrowroot in the spice section of your grocery store.

Risotto alla Milanese (Risotto with Parmesan & Saffron)

By James Peterson Fine Cooking Issue 50

Scott Phillips

Servings: six as a first course.

While it would be unfair to say that this is the risotto after which all others are derived—the Venetians provide plenty of competition—its lovely simplicity is hard to match. If you’re uneasy about risotto, this is a good recipe to start with because it’s simple and requires so few ingredients.

Ingredients

1 medium onion, very finely chopped

8 Tbs. unsalted butter

1 lb. (2 cups) arborio, vialone nano, or carnaroli rice, or other medium- or short-grain Italian rice

1/2 cup dry white wine

6 cups hot homemade or low-salt canned chicken broth; more as needed

1/2 tsp. saffron threads

1 cup finely grated parmesan, preferably Parmigiano-Reggiano

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Nutritional Information

Preparation

In a heavy-based saucepan that’s large enough to hold the rice with plenty of room left over, cook the onion in 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat until it’s translucent and fragrant, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the rice and cook it over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Add the wine, 2 cups of broth, and the saffron. Turn the heat to high until the broth comes to a simmer and then adjust the heat to maintain a steady simmer.

Cook until most of the liquid has been absorbed, stirring every minute or two (there’s no need to stir constantly). Add another cup of broth and keep cooking, stirring, and adding broth until the rice is al dente but not raw or grainy in the middle (see tip on Stirring risotto).

When the rice is ready, stir in the cheese. Add a little more broth to give the risotto the consistency you like (from fairly tight to almost soupy). Off the heat, stir in the remaining 6 tablespoons butter. Season with salt and pepper and ladle onto heated plates or bowls.

Make Ahead Tips

If you try to make risotto ahead completely and then reheat it, it will be overcooked and mushy. Instead, you can cook it until it’s about halfway done—the rice should still be rather firm inside—and then spread it out on a baking sheet to stop cooking and cool. Cover the rice and set it aside at room temperature for up to two hours. When you’re ready to serve the risotto, return it to the pot and resume adding hot liquid until it’s perfectly al dente, a few minutes later.

If you have any leftover risotto, it’s delicious made into crunchy Risotto Cakes.

Yield: Yields four risotto cakes.

Servings: two as a main course, four as a side;

Reheated leftover risotto is dense and mushy and not very good. But leftover risotto shaped into little cakes, coated in crumbs, and fried to a crunchy golden brown is a special treat. You can experiement with different types of leftover risotto for these cakes, but it works best if there aren’t a lot of chunky ingredients in the risotto (such as shrimp or sausage). Try it with leftover Risotto alla Milanese or Spinach & Herb Risotto.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry breadcrumbs or panko
• 1-1/3 cups cold leftover risotto
• 3/4 cup vegetable or olive oil

Preparation

• Put the breadcrumbs or panko in a wide, shallow bowl or plate. Scoop up about 1/3 cup of risotto at a time and shape into four patties, each about 3/4 inch thick and 3 inches wide. Coat the cakes in the breadcrumbs, pressing to help the crumbs adhere — it’s all right if the cake isn’t completely covered in crumbs.
• Heat the oil in a 10-inch straight-sided sauté pan over medium heat. Fry the cakes until golden brown on both sides, about 3 minutes per side (if necessary, adjust the heat to keep the oil at the right temperature). Transfer with a slotted spatula to paper towels to drain for a few minutes before serving.

Serve with lightly dressed salad greens or steamed green beans.