Veal Gremolata Recipes

TRADITIONAL OSSO BUCO

Steps:

• Dust the veal shanks lightly with flour. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the veal, and cook until browned on the outside. Remove to a bowl, and keep warm. Add two cloves of crushed garlic and onion to the skillet; cook and stir until onion is tender. Return the veal to the pan and mix in the carrot and wine. Simmer for 10 minutes.
• Pour in the tomatoes and beef stock, and season with salt and pepper. Cover, and simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 hours, basting the veal every 15 minutes or so. The meat should be tender, but not falling off the bone.
• In a small bowl, mix together the parsley, 1 clove of garlic and lemon zest. Sprinkle the gremolata over the veal just before serving.

OSSO BUCO GREMOLATA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. In a large shallow dish, whisk together flour, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Dredge the shanks in the mixture.
• In a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven, melt 3 tablespoons butter with 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Brown the shanks on all sides. Remove from the pot and set aside.
• Wipe out pot, and lower heat to medium-low. Add remaining tablespoon butter and oil. Add the carrots, onion, and celery to pan. Saute until mostly tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, stock, and wine; simmer for 8 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan.
• Return the meat to the pot; add garlic, bay leaf, parsley, and basil. Cover and bake for 3 hours, or until meat is tender.
• Remove the veal and set on a warm platter. Cover with foil to keep warm. Strain the cooking liquid through a fine mesh sieve and return liquid to pot. Reduce to 2 cups. Remove herbs from the vegetables and discard. Puree vegetables in a blender and return to pot (alternatively vegetables can be returned to the pot and pureed with an immersion blender).
• To make the gremolata, mix together lemon and orange zest. To serve, place 1 shank on a warm plate and spoon some sauce over the meat. Garnish with gremolata.

OSSO BUCO WITH GREMOLATA

Steps:

• Put the flour in a large shallow platter and season it with a fair amount of salt and pepper. Get in the habit of always tasting your flour; once it coats the veal it is harder to adjust the seasoning. Dredge the veal shanks in the seasoned flour and then tap off the excess (extra flour will burn and make the dish off-tasting). Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat and hit it with a 3-count drizzle of oil. Add the butter and swirl it around the pan to melt. Sear the veal shanks, turning carefully with tongs, until all sides are a rich brown caramel color. Drizzle with a little more oil if needed. (Do this in batches if the shanks are big and look crowded in the pot.) Remove the browned veal shanks to a side plate. There will be a lot of flavor left over in the bottom of the pot. You're going to use that to create your sauce.
• Preheat the oven to 375°F. Using the same pot, sauté the onion, celery, carrots, lemon zest, garlic, bay leaves, and parsley over medium heat. Cook the vegetables down until they start to get some color and develop a deep, rich aroma. Season with salt and pepper; add a little oil if needed. Nestle the veal shanks back in the pot. Pour in the wine and let it simmer down for 20 minutes, until the wine has reduced by half. Reducing is key for intense flavor. Add the beef broth and tomatoes and stir everything together. Cover the pot and put it in the oven. Braise for 1 1/2 hours. Then remove the cover and continue to cook for another 30 minutes. The sauce should be thick and the veal tender and nearly falling off the bone.
• For the gremolata, mash the pine nuts, anchovy, and garlic together in a mini chopper or with a mortar and pestle. Fold that into the orange zest and parsley. Scatter the gremolata over the Osso Buco before serving.

OSSO BUCO WITH ORANGE-HERB GREMOLATA

Steps:

• Center a rack in the oven, and heat it to 350 degrees. Cut the tomatoes into pieces, and reserve the juice; set aside.
• Heat the canola oil in a Dutch oven (or other large pot) over medium heat, and working in batches, brown the meat on all sides, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a bowl as the pieces are browned. Discard the oil.
• Add the olive oil, garlic, carrots, onion and herbs to the pot. Season with salt, and cook over low heat, stirring, until the vegetables are soft but not colored, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the anchovies, and cook a minute or two, until they dissolve. Increase the heat, add the wine and boil until almost evaporated. Stir in the broth, tomatoes with their liquid, olives, zest and pepper flakes. Return the meat, submerging as much of it as possible. Seal the pot with foil, and cover with the lid. Slide the pot into the oven.
• Braise for 1 1/2 hours - if the meat is falling off the bone, it's done; if it's not, give it another 30 minutes or so.
• Mix all the ingredients together.
• Serve the meat with the sauce (or refrigerate for up to 3 days; reheat gently). Pass the gremolata at the table.

VEAL GREMOLATA

Steps:

• Mix chopped Italian parsley, 1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic and grated lemon peel in small bowl. Season gremolata to taste with salt and pepper.
• Sprinkle veal with salt and pepper. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add veal to skillet and sauté until cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer veal to plates. Add remaining 1 tablespoon butter and 2 1/2 teaspoons garlic to skillet. Stir 30 seconds. Add lemon juice and bring to boil, scraping up any browned bits. Spoon sauce over veal; sprinkle with gremolata.

BRAISED VEAL SHANKS WITH GREMOLATA

Steps:

• Coarse sea salt, for garnish, optional For the braised veal shanks: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Heat the olive oil in a large enameled cast-iron Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Dredge the shanks in the flour, making sure to get off any excess. Add the shanks to the pan, in batches if necessary, and cook on all sides until browned, 3 to 4 minutes each side. Transfer to a plate. If browning in batches, repeat with the remaining shanks. Add the onions, carrots, celery, coriander, 1 teaspoon salt, thyme, garlic, bay leaves, rosemary and chiles to the pan and cook over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until glossy, about 2 minutes. Add the wine, scraping to deglaze the pan. Add the chicken stock and a pinch of salt and black pepper. Taste the simmering braising liquid at this point; it should taste seasoned. Return the shanks to the pan, cover and braise in the oven until the meat is very tender, 3 to 4 hours.
• For the gremolata: When almost ready to serve, combine the parsley, olive oil, lemon zest and juice, salt and garlic in a small bowl. Stir to combine. To serve, remove the shanks to a serving platter and spoon the sauce and braising vegetables over the top of them. Sprinkle with a little bit of sea salt and garnish with gremolata.