Ossobuco With Saffron Risotto by Valentina Harris
By Valentina Harris
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Easy
This Osso Bucco is made with a soffritto base with passata and a little white wine (not red!). It's one of the most delicious osso bucco's we have ever tried and Valentina has all the tips for you to recreate it. From learning to remove the soul of the garlic to understanding how to know when the wine has cooked off - just by smell!
Ingredients Serves: 6
- 1.5 kg Ossobuco steaks
- 4 sticks celery, washed and finely chopped
- 1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 carrots, scraped and finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 litre passata
- 2 tbsp concentrated tomato puree, diluted in a little warm water
- 400 ml dry white wine
- Sea salt and freshly milled black pepper
Method
- Wipe the ossobuco steaks to make sure there are no shards of bone or untidy edges.
- Put all the vegetables and the oil into a heavy bottomed pan large enough to take all the meat in due course.
- Fry the vegetables and the oil together for about 10 minutes or until softened. Remove the vegetables and set to one side.
- Add the meat to the hot pan and brown carefully on both sides.
- Add half the wine and boil quickly for one minute, then lower the heat and add the passata and the concentrated tomato puree.
- Season and cover. Leave to simmer for about 3 hours or until very tender - the meat should be falling off the bone. Stir fairly frequently and baste regularly with the remaining wine. Adjust seasoning as required.
- Once unctuous and soft, this lovely dish is traditionally served with a classic Milanese saffron risotto or a pure white, plain Risotto alla Parmigiana; or with mashed potato or polenta, and sometimes Gremolata, which is a mixture of chopped flat leaf parsley and finely grated lemon zest, is sprinkled over the meat, but this is definitely optional.
Feeling Inspired? Learn to make the risotto alla milanese to go with this dish. Or chekc out Valentina's other article on why you should consider buying a pasta machine.
About the author
Valentina Harris is a passionate Italian cook and award-winning author with more than 30 books to her name, including The Italian Regional Cookbook; Risotto! Risotto!; Classic Recipes of Tuscany; 500 Italian Recipes, and Valentina Harris’s Complete Italian Cookery Course. Educated in Italy, Valentina brought her qualifications for teaching and cooking from Rome to London in 1976. As a regular face at food festivals in the UK, Valentina stills finds time to share her expertise and love of Italian food by hosting courses, plus can be found regularly contributing to radio, TV, newspapers, and magazines.
