By Jean Doherty

Ossobuco means “bone with a hole” in Italian. It is usually eaten with polenta or mashed potatoes. My favorite is with pastas. After all, it is an Italian dish. The garnish on this dish is a “Persillade” which is a mixture of parsley, garlic, and oil, and sometimes vinegar, lemon juice or zest.

• ¼ cup olive oil
• Enough flour to coat your veal
• 1 bouquet garni
• 4 1½ -inch-thick slices of veal
hind shank
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup onion chopped
• ½ cup carrot chopped
• ½ cup celery chopped fine
• 1 teaspoon garlic chopped
• 1 bottle dry white wine
• 1 can Italian plum tomatoes,
chopped with juice
• 1 cube beef broth
• 1 cube chicken broth

Pat the veal shanks dry with paper towels to remove any excess moisture, they brown better when they’re dry. Secure the meat to the bone with kitchen twine.

Season each shank with salt and freshly ground pepper, and dredge the shanks in flour, shaking off the excess. In a thick assed pot heat the olive oil until it smokes.

Add veal to the hot oil and sauté until brown, about 3 minutes a side, then transfer the veal to a platter. In the same pot, add the butter and sauté the onion, carrot, celery and chopped garlic over a medium heat. Cook for about 3 to 4 minutes.

Then add the wine (One quarter of the bottle should do; you have the rest; you are the chef!) and reduce it by simmering it while scraping the browning residues stuck to the bottom and sides loose with a wooden spoon.

Add the chopped tomatoes with their juice, the bouquet garni and both stocks to the pot and bring to a simmer. Return the veal to the pot and cook for about 2 hours or until the meat feels very tender when prodded with a fork and a creamy sauce has formed. If, while the Ossobuco is cooking, the liquid in the pot becomes insufficient, add a little water, as needed.

The level of cooking liquid should always be about 3/4 the way up the shank. You should have more than enough. I like fresh tagliatelle with my Ossobuco. That way I can sop up all that delicious sauce.

Finish with chopped garlic, parsley and lemon zest.