Ossobuco Milanese Style (Ossobuco Alla Milanese)

I cannot help but gravitate to cooking hearty and soul warming food especially when the weekend is upon us.  This gorgeous dish is from the Lombardy region of Italy and you can use veal shins or the traditional beef shins. The recipe that I am sharing, I will be using the traditional cut of beef.  I have used both cuts of meat in the past and they both work very well.  However, the beef has more meat around the bone as opposed to the veal.

Ingredients
4 beef shins (with marrow bone)
1 onion (sliced)
1 clove garlic (chopped)
60 grams butter (unsalted)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 glass dry white wine
1 cup vegetable stock
salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 carrot (diced)
2 sticks of celery (diced)
handful of parsley (chopped)
strip of lemon peel
flour (for dusting the meat)

Preparation Time:     20 minutes
Cooking Time:       1 1/2 hours
Serves:     4 people

1. Lightly flour the four pieces of meat and place aside.
2. In a pan large enough heat half the butter and oil.
3. Add the meat to the pan and brown on both sides.
4. Remove from the pan and place aside.
5. Add the onion, saute for a few minutes, then add the garlic, carrot, celery and continue to cook for a further few minutes.
6. When the onion, garlic, carrot and celery has softened and browned a little return the meat to the pan and add the white wine.
7. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer gently.
8. When the wine has evaporated, season with salt and pepper, continue to cook gently, adding a little stock at a time to the pan.
9. Ensure that the meat does not stick to the pan.
10. Add the chopped parsley and lemon peel halfway through the cooking process.
11. Continue to cook gently until the meat is tender.  Mix the remaining butter into the sauce and remove the lid towards the end of cooking to thicken.
12. Before serving remove the lemon rind.

Cook’s Tips

This dish goes very well with Risotto Milanese (saffron risotto) and gremolada, a mixture of chopped lemon rind, garlic and parsley.

Enjoy!