OssoBucco Silcilian Style from New Orleans

[Dee]

OssoBucco Silcilian Style from New Orleans

Ossobuco Sicilian Style

 

6 veal shanks, with marrow 2 cups chicken stock

1 tsp. salt 1 tsp oregano

1 tsp black pepper 2 tsp sweet basil

4 tbsp flour 10 anchovy strips, mashed in olive oil

3 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp capers

1 cup diced onions 2 strips lemon peel, no pith(white stuff)

4 cloves fresh minced garlic 1/2 stick butter

2 cups peeled tomatoes salt and pepper to taste (for sauce)

1/2 cup dry red wine

 

Salt and pepper the veal shanks and dust them in the flour. Put them into a greased baking pan and roast them in a 450 degree oven until lightly browned. (Turn them once to brown on both sides) Set them aside.

Meanwhile, take a 6 qt. dutch oven and heat the olive oil to HOT. Saute the onions and garlic, just watch that the garlic doesn't burn. Add the wine and the tomatoes and cook uncovered over medium-high heat until the liquid reduces to 1/2 its original volume(about 20 min). Now stir the chicken stock, with oregano, basil, anchovy and capers. The reduction should give you a full-bodied sauce-not think, but not watery either.

Place the browned shanks into a heavy pan, generously top with the sauce, cover tightly, and bake in 350 oven for about an hour. Then gently remove the shanks (cut they will fall apart) and set them on a platter in warm oven.

Put remaining sauce along with the lemon peel into a skillet and bring to high heat. When the sauce is just about to boil, salt and pepper to taste and remove it immediately from the fire, add the butter in small pieces, agitate. DO NOT STIR THE PAN. Blend everything together until smooth and creamy..

 

Serve the shanks, topped with the sauce, alongside a plate of rotini or any pasta you like. We love angel hair, garlic sauteed zucchini, a loaf of Italian bread, and a chilled glass of wine.

 

Instead of baking in oven, you can cook them on top of the stove in a skillet. But the pan must have a tight lid and the meat should cook only on the 'simmer' setting, very slowly.

OssoBucco means 'hollowbone' and is usually done in a deep iron pot, but it can also be cooked in the oven. This recipe is more Sicilian than Milanese, more New Orleans flavor, which is why I love it.