RED WINE OSSO BUCCO RECIPE: ADAPTED BY DONNA HAY

Its another cold winter night so a slow cooked osso bucco (veal shin) sounds very enticing. Osso Bucco is an Italian word for "bone in a hole".  The meat is pretty tough until you start braising it for hours.  I think so far my recipes happen to be winter warmers - beef stew, lamb shanks, stuffed meatballs and now osso bucco.  This recipe takes over an hour to cook and prepare because the longer the meat is immersed in the tomato sauce, the more soft and tender it becomes.  When that happens the meat falls off the bones.   I actually didn't put much wine at all because the family are not wine drinkers so instead I put more tomato sauce and they loved it.  I added carrots and mushrooms to the recipe as well to add a touch of sweetness.  Normally other osso bucco recipes use carrots, celery, thyme, bay leaves and white wine (not red).  However,  this recipe is simple and still pretty delicious.

Osso Bucco

Red Wine Osso Bucco recipe
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: over one hour (1.5 hours - 2 hours)
Level of difficulty: Relatively easy
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
8 x 200g osso buco (veal shin)
sea salt and cracked black pepper
plain (all-purpose) flour, for dusting
¼ cup (60ml) olive oil
1 brown onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
⅓ cup (90g) tomato paste
2 cups (500ml) red wine
2 cups (500ml) beef stock
2 diced carrots (optional)
8 mushrooms (optional)
diced broccolini and tomatoes, to serve
chopped parsley leaves (or two stems of thyme), to serve
hot buttered toast, to serve

Method:

1. Heat a large deep frying pan over medium heat.  Sprinkle the osso bucco with salt, pepper (I also ginger and garlic powder for extra taste) and lightly dust with flour.

Seasoned meat

2. Add the oil and cook the veal in batches, for 2-3 minutes each side or until browned. Set aside.

Cook osso bucco in a pan

3. Add onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes or until the onion is softened.  Add the mushrooms and carrots and fry until mushrooms are soft and brown.  Add the tomato paste, wine and stock.  Bring to the boil and cook, stirring for 1 minute.

Mushrooms, carrots, tomato paste and red wine ( I only added 2 teaspoon)

4. Return the osso bucco to the pan, reduce the heat to low, over and simmer for one hour.  Remove the lid and simmer for a further 1/2 hour or until the meat is tender and sauce has thickened.

5. Garnish with two stems of thyme.  Serve with diced tomatoes and steamed broccolini.  I've seen osso bucco served with nice mash potatoes or polenta as well so that can be optional.

Osso bucco

So there you have it, a nice hearty relatively simple meal for dinner.  Donna Hay calls it here Wednesday night dinner.  Not a weekend so must be non-fuss.  These slow cooked meat are really worth making but just takes a bit of time to simmer and wait for 1.5-2 hours before you can devour it.  Best to start a bit earlier for dinner otherwise can leave the family starving if you decide to make this. Also, I plated this dish up with no bones as the meat was so tender it melted off the bone.

Here's a link to another recipe with the traditional vegetables included:-
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/17109/beef+osso+bucco