Osso Bucco - Shank Right!

In football terms, when you "shank right", you miss a field goal to the right side.  Off a righty kicker's foot, it functions like a slice in golf.  Starts off ok, but ends up tailing off wide right.  I will never forget when the Buffalo Bills lost in the Super Bowl to the New York Giants.  How did they lose?  Yep, wide right, or to my earlier point, a shank right.  A Scott Norwood field goal attempt in the waning seconds would have won the game.  "Wide Right" will forever be curse words in Buffalo.

So, what does this football story have anything to do with the Year of Meat, and Osso Bucco in particular?  Veal Shanks!  That's what!  And when you cook them right, you get Shank Right, which I have to assume Osso Bucco in Italian means Shank Right, right?  It's the kind of meat, when cooked right, sort of melts off the bone.  And when prepared in the right sauce, you get a rich, hearty comfort food.  Serve it on top of a simple Parmesan Risotto,  and you get a "stick to the ribs" kind of comfort food.  Is there a better kind?

Let's talk recipe.  I made a rub of rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper, and rubbed it into the veal shanks.  In a Dutch Oven (thanks for the many laughs over my use of my Dutch Oven, by the way), heat up some olive oil, and brown all sides of the veal shanks, and then set them aside on a plate.  Add to the oil and drippings some carrots, onions and chopped (thick cut) prosciutto, and cook for about 10 minutes.  Add some garlic, white wine, chopped tomatoes and chicken broth.  Once to a boil, add in some chopped basil and thyme, a bay leaf and some lemon peel.  When all that is mixed in, add the shanks back in and place in the oven at 325 degrees for 2 hours, turning the shanks every 30 minutes.

While that is cooking, I made a gremolata (a garnish for the osso bucco) of lemon zest, garlic, chopped basil and pepper.  And about 1 hour into the cooking, I made a parmesan risotto.  Melted some butter in some canola oil, added in a chopped shallot and cooked for 3 minutes, then added in arborio rice.  Made sure the rice got stitted wet in the butter/oil/shallots, and then added some white wine, and then spent the next 30 minutes adding in a ladle of chicken broth and stirring until dry, adding another ladle and stirring until dry, and kept doing that "add ladle/stir until dry" process the whole time.  Once the rice was fully cooked (no crunchy al dente texture), I added in more butter, some chopped parsley and fresh grated parmesan.  Yum!

While in the midst of the "add ladle/stir" process, I removed the Dutch Oven from the oven, transferred the shanks to a plate under foil, and put the Dutch Oven over the stove to reduce the sauce by half.  Brought it to a boil, and did just that.  Added the shanks back to the sauce, and we were ready to go.

This was rich meat in a rich sauce over a rich risotto.  The gremolata garnish (which I almost forgot) helped cut into the richness, and gave the dish a lively zesty life to it.  Good stuff!!!  Shank Right!!!

21 down, 38 to go!