Osso Buco

Italian week has come and gone. I will say I am going to miss it. The weather finally cooled down enough for me to make something that needed to cook for hours and that is warm and hearty. Ever since I mentioned Italian week. Cory as asked are you going to make Osso Buco? As the day went by I could tell he was loosing faith that I would make it. So as a treat for him and myself I decided to do one more Italian recipe.

Confession: The recipe called for veal shank, however I must have said lamb shank to the butcher because that's what I ended up with. The lamb worked really well in the dish, so it turned out to be a happy mistake.

To start I seasoned my lamb shanks with salt and pepper then lightly dusted them with flour. While heating a quarter cup of olive oil in a large dutch oven (thanks grandma for the awesome dutch oven, I love it).

Once the oil is hot I put the shanks in the pan to brown.

Once the meat is browned I removed it from the pot. Then I put finely diced onions, celery and carrots into brown for about six minutes.

Once the vegetables have browned I added in a tablespoon of tomato paste to the vegetables and let it cook together for four minutes.

Now for the fun part, deglazing the pan with half cup of white wine!

Now the trick to deglazing is to use the liquid in this case wine to scrap up all the wonderful brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Those brown bits are where the flavor is, and you want every bit of that brown goodness. Once I was done deglazing the pan it was time to add the crushed tomatoes.

Now its time for the spices and herbs. One teaspoon of fennel seeds, chili pepper flakes and oregano.

Next in the pot my bouquet garni, which is just fancy for herbs bundled in cheese cloth. I bundled together fresh parsley, peppercorns and one bay leaf.

Now I add the lamb shanks back in the pan and pour beef stock until the shank is halfway submerged.

I put the lid on the pot and let good for three hours! Three long torturous hours of smelling yummy lamb goodness coming from my kitchen! I did get to stir it occasionally and add more broth as needed. That's really it hands off until the meat is tender and falling off the bone!

Once the meat is tender I removed it from the pot and shredded it then added it back into the sauce. Then I poured this awesome meaty goodness over homemade(didn't turn out so well) noodles. The final product looked like this.

As I mentioned I made the noodles myself. Thus explaining their awkward shape and texture. I think I just need more practice at noodle making. I will say that the osso bucco sauce was OUTSTANDING! So good that I hardly noticed that my noodles weren't that great. Cory loved this meal and declared it the best meal I've made in very long time.
I think it was a great way to wrap up Italian week. I will for sure be making this again, minus the homemade noodles (I'll buy those).
Now its a new week time for a new challenge, ciao Italy!