Osso Buco with fresh Gremolata
We love this Osso Buco recipe for BRB soup bones, which are beef shanks. The Gremolata gives it an extra fresh flavor as a winter comfort food dish.
Ingredients:
1 lb of BRB soup bones
6 ounces of pancetta, diced in 1/4 inch cubes
1/2 cup diced carrot (1/4 inch dice)
1/2 cup diced celery (1/4 inch dice)
1 medium onion (1/4 inch dice)
2 Tablespoons chopped garlic (about 4 gloves)
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1 cup dry white wine
1-2 cups beef or chicken stock
Flour dusting for the beef before browning
Salt and pepper
For the Gremolata:
2 tablespoons Italian parsley
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
2 cloves garlic, crushed, minced
Directions:
Preheat oven to 300° F.
Brown the pancetta. Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Add pancetta to pan, cook, stirring occasionally. When pancetta is crispy and most of the fat is rendered, remove the pancetta to a plate covered with a paper towel and set aside.
Dredge the beef soup bones (shanks) in flour, brown in pan. Place flour in a shallow bowl or container. Season the beef shank liberally with salt and pepper. Dredge the shanks with some flour, shake off excess and add the meat to the hot pancetta fat in the Dutch oven.
Increase the heat to medium high and cook shanks on each side until well browned. Remove the shanks to a plate and set aside.
Sauté the onions, carrots, celery. Add the onions, carrots and celery to the Dutch oven. Cook the onion mixture, stirring frequently, until the onions are translucent (about 5 minutes) and toss in garlic and thyme.
Continue cooking until vegetables just begin to brown about 7-10 min.
Return shanks to Dutch oven, add wine and stock. Add the shanks and the pancetta back to the pan. Pour in the wine and then add enough stock to come a little more than halfway up the sides of the shanks.
Bring to a simmer. Cover the pan and put it in the oven to cook until the meat is tender about 1 to 1.5 hours.
Make the gremolata. Combine the gremolata ingredients, place in a separate small serving dish.
Remove pan from the oven when meat is tender and serve the beef shank and vegetables over your choice of risotto, polenta, mashed potatoes or cauliflower rice. Sprinkle with gremolata. Enjoy!
Note: We chose to serve this dish over cauliflower rice as it was the easiest and fastest to make and it was delicious! A nice texture with the beef, veggies and stock of this dish.
