Dreaming of Italy

Ann and I have been planning a big vacation for years now, ever since our last major vacation of nearly two weeks in Alaska (Anchorage area and the Kenai) in 2021 during a gap between COVID outbreaks. Our next big trip will be next fall, tentatively a big circle of northern Italy from Firenze to Bolzano and back, taking in sights in Toscana, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardia, il Veneto, and the star of the show, i Dolomiti (Tyrolean or Dolomitic Alps) of Trentino-Alto Adige (Südtirol).

A goal of this trip for me as a chef will be to get off the beaten path and sample local dishes that will continue my education into and expand my repertoire of Italian regional cuisine. As an aside, I doubt very much that I will be ordering classic dishes in Italy as I have cooked them all and so they no longer pique my curiosity.

Because of all this trip planning, we are thinking of all things Italian. It is perfect timing then, that this week when looking through the meat section of the grocery, I saw some particularly good looking beef shank cut for osso buco, the classic braised dish of Lombardy and Milan, in particular. I don't think our itinerary will include a stay in Milan, but still, I never can resist making this milanese classic when I have the opportunity. Served on a bed of risotto milanese (saffron risotto) with a bottle of Barbaresco, this dish was a delightful counterpoint to our crappy snowy and rainy winter weather last night.

Ossobuco on Risotto Milanese

I've made several posts on this blog and I'm sure other posts on the restaurant blog about osso buco. I've made lots and lots of very different versions from many different kinds of meat (veal, beef, elk, venison, bison, pork, cinghiale (wild boar), and others). This post goes over the way that I most often make it at home, braised in wine, tomatoes, and aromatics. This is in contrast to at the restaurant where it might have been braised in demiglace and porcini and then finished with truffles. In other words, this is my rustic, casalinga version.

Home-Style Ossobuco

This recipe describes braising the ossobuco in a slow cooker. There is absolutely no reason why this could not be cooked slowly on the stovetop or in the oven using a dutch oven or other covered braising pan. At the restaurant, we used flat hotel plans covered in aluminum foil; in other words, no fancy equipment needed. If you are going to braise in a pan, you can (and should) brown the meat and the aromatics directly in the braising pan.)

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

large pinch coarse black pepper
2 large shank portions (mine were extra large and weighed in at 2.8 pounds/1.25 kg)
olive oil to film a skillet or sauté pan
1 large leek, finely chopped
1 large carrot, in small dice
1 large stalk celery, in small dice
6-8 large cloves garlic, minced
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 cup/250ml (1/3 bottle) dry red wine

1 28oz can of diced tomatoes and their juice

The steps, illustrated below, are simple. Dredge the shanks in seasoned flour and brown. Cook the aromatics and herbs. Add the remaining dredging flour and cook it a bit. Deglaze with red wine and add the tomatoes. Combine all the ingredients and cook slowly until the meat is fork tender.

When selecting ossobuco, if you have a choice, always look for the slices that are more meat than bone. There is little more disappointing than being served a piece of ossobuco that is almost all bone, which is sadly what a lot of grocery store ossobuco amounts to. Too bad that we have no place to buy veal ossobuco, however, the beef ossobuco in the photo above is as pretty as I have ever seen.

Mix the flour with the salt and pepper and cover both sides of the shanks in flour, knocking off any excess. Brown over medium heat until well colored on both sides.

While the beef is browning, if you have decent knife skills, you will have plenty of time to prep the aromatics. In the winter when leeks are in season, I prefer to use leeks rather than onions. Of course, onions work just great too. I prefer fresh herbs in general for this dish. The exception is basil in this winter season when fresh basil is scarce.

Seasoned Flour, Red Wine, and Tomatoes

I'm really picky about my tomatoes and I have my favorite brand. I tend to use very finely diced tomatoes packed in juice, though it would be no problem to use whole romas and crush them slightly using your hands or a food processor. As for wine, I do not cook with the same wine that I want to drink with the dish, the opposite of what some people recommend.

The wines that I like to drink are far too expensive and delicate to be cooking with. Moreover, the reason for the wine in the dish is simply to supply some acid to help break down the meat, and any reasonably priced well made wine will do this for you. For white cooking wine, I buy inexpensive dry box wine because we never have any leftover white wine (for we rarely drink white wine and pretty much never in winter).

For red wine, we are always buying sample bottles to see if we want to buy case quantities for the cellar. Invariably, we have bottles that while being decent wines, simply are not to our taste. Those become cooking wines. The Matthews wine in the photo above, we bought on a lark merely because that is my surname. Sadly, it was not to our taste despite being highly rated by the wine talking heads.

After the meat is browned, cook the aromatics and herbs in the same pan, being sure to scrape up all the brown meat bits off the bottom of the pan. These bits have amazing flavor that you want in your braise. When the vegetables are soft, add the remaining dredging flour, stir it in, and cook it for another minute or two. Then deglaze (use the liquid to get any solids off the bottom of the pan) with the red wine and add the tomatoes. Stir all the ingredients well. Then if you are using a slow cooker, pour the sauce over the meat. If you are braising on the stovetop or in the oven, nestle the meat into the sauce. Cover and cook at low heat.

Above, you see the meat after it has been browned, then covered in sauce before cooking, then after braising for seven hours. The meat was done after about six hours on low in the slow cooker, but I wasn't ready to eat then, so I let it go for another hour. On the stovetop or in the oven, I would guess that the dish would be ready in about three hours. To tell if it is done, stick a fork in it and if you meet no resistance, it is ready.

A final note about salt. You will notice that this dish contains but a half a teaspoon of Kosher salt, not enough to season it. So, when it is done, you will need to taste and season the sauce according to your liking. I specify seasoning the dish after cooking because when you braise, you gradually lose liquid volume to create a silky, unctuous sauce. If you season to taste before the liquid cooks off, the finished product is going to be hella salty.

Parting Shot: Risotto Milanese Starting to Cook

As I mentioned before, I served the ossobuco on risotto milanese with a great Nebbiolo wine, a Barbaresco. Sadly, I cannot really go into making risotto in a blog post. It, like making biscuits or handmade pasta, takes hands-on experience to learn the feel of the dish.