Osso Bucco

Slow cooked meals are one of my favourite things about winter time, especially in Canberra when it gets terribly cold, there is nothing better than having a stew on the go on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

I recently became a member of the local library after reading a blog post somewhere about how this person would trial cookbooks from their local library before buying them, to see whether they were worth buying. I thought this was a great idea, I didn't even know they had cookbooks at the library (the last library I went to was my uni library many years ago...)

So I got my library card and started requesting books online and before I knew it I had 8 cookbooks to look through (I have slowed down my requesting now)..


One of these books was the women's weekly back to basics cookbook. I love the women's weekly recipes. I have their big red "cook" book and their big blue "kitchen" book which I am sure has all the recipes from this book in there, but these books have pictures for all the recipes, which the big books don't which I think makes you want to cook something more.

I would have to say that this was one of the best osso bucco's I have ever cooked. I usually haven't made a gremolata before either, but this time I did and it really adds a different dimension to the dish. The meat was deliciously tender (I cooked for a bit longer than specified) and the marrow was sensational, one of my favourite things about this cut of meat.

I served the osso bucco with some mashed sweet potato and potato, but you can serve with whatever starch you desire. I have served with creamy polenta before which was also very good, or just some nice fresh crusty bread.

Osso Bucco - from Women's Weekly Back to Basics

6 pieces of Veal Osso Bucco (about 1.8kg)
1/2 cup (75g) plain flour
45g butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 stalks celery chopped coarsely
6 anchovy fillets chopped coarsely
180ml (3/4 cup) dry white wine
2 tins of chopped tomatoes (820g in total)
1/2 cup chicken stock
5 cloves garlic, crushed
3 bay leaves
10 fresh thyme sprigs

Gremolata

1/2 cup of finely chopped parsley
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees/325 F

2. Coat veal in flour and shake off excess and fry in a pan with the oil and butter until browned all over (in batches) and then remove and rest on plate.

3. Fry the anchovies and celery in the same pan until celery softens. Add wine and bring to the boil and then add in the 2 tins of tomatoes, stock, garlic, bay leaves and thyme and return to the boil.

4. Place the veal pieces into the mixture so that they are all fully covered. Cook in oven with lid on for about 2 hours or until the meat is tender.

5. Make the gremolata by combining all the ingredients and then sprinkle over the osso bucco when serving.

There was a note in the cookbook that standing the pieces of veal in the pan rather than laying flat keeps the marrow intact. I missed this point when I made it, but my marrow was still intact. I think I will try the upright method though next time.