Osso Buco

Meat disclaimer: I’ve made this with bone-in, skin on chicken, boneless country-style pork ribs, chuck roast cut into chunks but you can basically use anything that can be braised for a long period of time. Just adjust the cooking time based on the meat you’d like to use. The sauce is what makes this!

Veggie note: Chop everything very finely, to approximately the same size. When the sauce cooks the veggies will almost dissolve to help thicken the sauce slightly.

For the Osso Buco:

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Preheat a large soup pot to medium-high heat. Salt and pepper the meat on all sides. Add the olive oil to the pot and heat it. Then add the meat and sear the meat on all sides, for a total of roughly 7-10 minutes. Cook until all sides are very brown. Remove the meat from the pot and reduce the heat to medium, or medium-low if your stove is very hot.

Add the carrots and celery to the pot with the meat drippings with a sprinkle of salt and the crushed red pepper. Stir for 3 minutes, then add the onion. Stir for 2 minutes more.

Add the garlic and stir for 90 seconds until fragrant, then add the chopped herbs and the tomato paste. Stir to combine.

Add the wine, and let it reduce by about half for 3-4 minutes. Add the stock and tomatoes, and stir.

Crush the saffron threads with your fingers and add them to the vegetable sauce mixture. Slide the meat back into the vegetables. The tomato/wine/stock sauce should just cover the meat. Add more stock if you need to.

Cover the pot and put the pot in the oven for a total of 2-2.5 hours. After 90 minutes, check the meat. It should be cooked but still tough. We are going to cook the meat until it’s very tender, so stir the sauce here and return the pot to the oven, checking every 30 minutes until the Osso Buco is very tender.

Meanwhile, mix the cornstarch and water until dissolved. When the meat is tender and the Osso Buco is done, return the pot to the stove top over medium heat. Add the cornstarch mixture and stir. Bring the sauce to a boil to thicken just slightly. Remove any tough fatty meat pieces that might not have dissolved, and any bones if you don’t want to use them for serving.

For the gremolata:

On a cutting board, chop the dill, parsley, and garlic together. Zest the lemon directly over the mixture, and sprinkle on the salt. Chop together once more to integrate all the ingredients.

To serve:

Ladle the Osso Buco into shallow bowls with lots of sauce. Serve with crusty bread and top with a sprinkle of the herb gremolata.

Adapted from Rachael Ray.