Columbus Day Dinner

This always makes me laugh

I hope that many of you enjoyed Monday off, but for many including Michael they worked so I made a hot-pot of osso buco, just the ticket for a Columbus Day dinner.  Asiago Cheese “Jakes’ garlic bread and a Caesar salad made for a fine low-key holiday dinner.

I have several recipes for osso buco, but I have dwindled down the file quite a bit and basically stay with one or two versions and today I used the recipe that called for veal stew meat and I used the slow cooker instead of the oven.  It came out just as good as braising in the oven with little tweaks here and there, nothing too drastic from a previously posted recipe.

Osso Buco Style Stew

• 1.5-2 pounds veal or stew beef  (1 1/2 inc cubes
• 1/2 cup AP flour, or enough to lightly dust the meat cubes
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 6-8 peeled small whole white onions (the frozen pearl onions work well in this recipe)
• 1 large shallot, finely chopped
• 4 carrots, chopped
• 1 celery rib, finely chopped and a nice small leafy piece to toss in the braise
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups white wine
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 5-6 San Marzano canned tomatoes hand squished
• 1 cup Kalamata pitted olives, halved
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 3 sprigs fresh parsley
• 1 small sprig of fresh rosemary, maybe a 2 inch piece for just a hint of flavor

You can tie the herb sprigs together, easier to fish out before serving

• 2-3 strips of orange zest (zest of 2 clementines)
• 2 strips of lemon zest
• 2 bay leaves
• salt & pepper

• 5 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest, grated and a little orange zest

Preheat oven to 350°F

Heat the oil and  butter in dutch oven  medium high heat.

Pat meat dry with paper towels,  season with salt & pepper, toss  in a  flour and shake off excess. Brown meat in batches. Set aside while preparing the rest of the ingredients.

Reduce heat to medium and  add the mall onions, saute for a minute or so and add the shallot, carrots,  celery and cook until soft ( the small onions will soften in the braise), add the garlic for the last 30-60 seconds.  Season with salt and pepper, toss in the wine and scrape brown bits while wine is slightly reducing then add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a slight boil and add the meat

Crumple a piece of parchment paper and cover the stew, gently press down to the top of the stew to lightly cover, place lid on pot and braise for about 1-1/2 hours, check the liquid level and add a little more wine and stock if necessary as I did, continue braising for another 1/2-3/4 hour

When done, remove bay leaf, parsley, rosemary and thyme stems.   Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Mix gremolata ingredients together. Using a microplane to grate both garlic & lemon zest will give a nice fine texture.

Serve over rice, risotto, roasted garlic mashed potatoes