Best Braised Veal Shanks With Green Olives And Capers Recipes

BRAISED VEAL SHANKS

Steps:

• Make stew:
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat to 350°F.
• Bring demiglace to a simmer in a 1-quart saucepan over moderate heat. Remove from heat and keep warm, partially covered.
• Pat shanks dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dredge shanks in flour to coat, shaking off excess. Heat oil in a 5- to 6-quart wide heavy ovenproof pot over moderately high heat until just smoking, then brown shanks on all sides, about 10 minutes total, and transfer with tongs to a plate. Add butter to pot and heat until foam subsides, then sauté onions, carrots, celery, and garlic, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened, about 9 minutes.
• Add wine, scraping up any brown bits, then add warm demiglace, tomatoes, and bay leaf. Return shanks (with any juices accumulated on plate) to pot and bring liquid to a boil, then cover pot and braise shanks in oven until meat is very tender, about 2 1/2 hours.
• Carefully transfer shanks with a slotted spoon to a clean plate and keep warm, loosely covered with foil. Skim fat from sauce, then simmer, uncovered, on top of stove, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Season sauce with salt and pepper and add shanks, then cook over low heat until heated through. (Discard strings and bay leaf before serving.)
• Make gremolata:
• Stir together parsley, zest, rosemary, and thyme and sprinkle over osso buco just before serving.
• *Available at specialty foods shops and cooking.com.

BRAISED VEAL SHANKS

Steps:

• Stand the shank pieces up on a flat end. Cut six lengths of twine, each about 2 feet long, and wrap one around the outside of each ossobuco, in the middle (the meat will look as though it's wearing a very tight belt). Tie the twine securely and trim the ends.
• Cut a small square of cheesecloth and wrap up the bay leaves, cloves, rosemary sprig, and juniper berries. Tie the packet with twine. Shave off the peel of the orange and lemon in broad strips with a paring knife or vegetable peeler-remove only the colorful zest, not the bitter white pith. Squeeze and strain the juice from the orange.
• Just before browning the meat, salt the ossobuco lightly, using 1/2 teaspoon in all. Dredge the shanks in the flour to coat all surfaces.
• Pour the vegetable oil into the pan, and set over medium-high heat. Shake off excess flour, and set all the ossobuco in the oil, standing on a cut end. Let them sizzle for 4 to 5 minutes, until the bottoms are well browned; turn to caramelize the other cut side. Flip the pieces onto their round edges, and rotate so the fat crisps all around the shanks. Remove them to a platter when nicely colored-this will take 10 minutes or more.
• When all the ossobuco are browned, carefully pour the hot vegetable oil out of the empty pan, leaving the crusted bits of meat on the bottom. Pour in the olive oil, set over medium-high heat, and dump in the onions. Stir them around for a minute or two, scraping the pan to release the caramelized bits, then stir in the carrot and celery. Drop in the cheesecloth herb sachet, sprinkle on a teaspoon of salt, and cook, stirring, until the vegetables are sizzling and wilting.
• Clear a space in the pan bottom, and drop in the tomato paste; cook the paste in the hot spot for a minute, then stir it into the vegetables. Add the crushed tomatoes, stir well, and bring to a boil. Raise the heat to high, pour in the wine, and cook for a couple of minutes at a boil to evaporate the alcohol. Pour in the orange juice and about 6 cups of the hot stock; drop in all the strips of citrus zest and the remaining salt, and bring the liquids to a boil.
• Return the ossobuco to the saucepan, standing them on end so they're evenly immersed in the sauce. Add more hot stock, if necessary, just to cover the tops of the ossobuco with liquid. Cover the pan, and lower the heat so the sauce is perking steadily but not too fast. Cook for an hour or so, covered, checking that the sauce has not reduced and is still covering the meat (add stock if needed). Turn the ossobuco over in the pan so the meat cooks evenly.
• Uncover the pan, and cook for another hour or more at a bubbling simmer, adjusting the heat as necessary to maintain slow but steady concentration of the sauce. As the braising-liquid level gradually drops, carefully turn the shanks again, so no parts dry out.
• Cook for 2 to 3 hours in all, until the meat at its thickest part is tender enough to pierce with a fork with only slight resistance, and the sauce is thick, reduced well below the tops of the shank pieces. Season with fresh pepper to taste and stir. Turn off the heat. Lift each ossobuco from the cooking pot with sturdy tongs, letting the sauce drain off, and place it on a large platter. Snip the knotted twine pieces with a scissors; pull off and discard. Lift out the cheesecloth sachet, press to release all the juices back into the pot, and discard.
• Set a wire-mesh sieve in a bowl or saucepan. Strain all the sauce through the sieve, pressing the liquid from the strips of peel and vegetable bits. The sauce should be thick and velvety, with the consistency of molasses (if it is too thin, quickly reduce it over high heat). Taste the sauce, and adjust the seasoning for the last time.
• Chop and stir together the chopped parsley, garlic, and lemon zest for the gremolata just before serving, for freshness. Spoon the Risotto alla Milanese (page 48) into the center of six wide plates, and nestle the ossobuco in the center of the risotto. Spoon over it some of the sauce, and sprinkle lightly with gremolata (about 1/2 teaspoon per serving). Serve with small spoons for scooping the delicious marrow from the bones, and pass the remaining gremolata at the table.

BRAISED VEAL SHANK

Steps:

• Tie the bay leaves and rosemary together with string. Pour the chicken broth into a small pot and keep warm over low heat.
• Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Season the osso buco with the salt. When the oil is hot, add the osso buco and brown on all sides, about 6 to 7 minutes in all. Remove browned osso buco to a plate.
• Add the onion, carrots, and celery to the Dutch oven. Cook until the onion begins to soften and all of the vegetables are caramelized, about 5 minutes. Push aside the vegetables to clear a dry spot in the pan, and add the tomato paste. Let it toast for a minute or two, then stir it into the vegetables. Add the wine and the herb package. Bring to a boil, and cook until the wine is reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Drop in the cloves and the orange peel (reserve the zest from the other orange for later). Return the osso buco to the pot in one layer, and pour the chicken stock over the top until it is almost, but not quite, covering the osso buco. Adjust heat so the liquid is simmering, cover, and cook until the osso buco is tender, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Once the meat is tender, uncover, and remove the vegetable chunks to a platter. Put the osso buco on top of the vegetables. Discard the bay leaf/rosemary package. Bring the liquid in the Dutch oven to a boil, and cook down until saucy, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the strings from the osso buco. Pour the sauce through a strainer directly over the osso buco on the platter, pressing on any remaining vegetable solids with a wooden spoon. Sprinkle the orange zest over the top, and serve.

WHOLE BRAISED VEAL SHANKS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• On a cutting board, use the side of your chef's knife to smash together the chopped garlic and the rosemary to make a coarse paste. Cut several deep holes in the veal shanks with a paring knife-really stab them! Using your index finger, stuff the holes with the rosemary-garlic mixture; this will perfume the shanks with a beautiful aroma while they braise.
• Season the shanks generously with salt. Coat a large sauté pan with olive oil and bring to high heat. Add the shanks to the pan and brown well on all sides; this may take up to 20 minutes. Don't skimp on this step-this is where the big, rich, brown flavors start to develop, so take your time!
• While the shanks are browning, put the onions, carrots, celery, apples, and the remaining 3 cloves of smashed garlic in a food processor and purée to a coarse paste; reserve.
• When the shanks are very brown, transfer them to a roasting pan. Ditch the fat, add a bit of fresh olive oil, and add the puréed veggies and apples to the sauté pan. Season generously with salt and cook until the mixture is very brown and aromatic, 8 to 10 minutes. Again, don't skimp here-you want the veggies to form a crust on the bottom of the pan. This is where more of that lovely brown flavor develops, so take your time.
• Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring frequently, until it starts to brown, 1 to 2 minutes.
• Add the wine, bring it to a boil (BTB), and stir frequently until reduced by half, 3 to 4 minutes. Then transfer everything to the roasting pan with the shanks. Add about 1/2 cup water to the sauté pan to help release any of that good crud stuck to the bottom, then add it to the roasting pan.
• Add 4 to 5 more cups water to the roasting pan and stir to combine; the mix should be pretty soupy. Taste and add more salt if needed, then toss in the bay leaves and the thyme bundle.
• Put the pan in the oven and cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, turning the shanks every 30 minutes, stirring and adding more water if the liquid reduces too much. If the shanks brown too much during the cooking time, tent the pan with aluminum foil. When the shanks are done they should be incredibly tender and flavorful.

BRAISED VEAL SHANKS WITH GREEN OLIVES AND CAPERS

Steps:

• Make Braised Veal Shanks:
• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Pit 1/4 cup olives and chop fine. Lightly crush remaining 1/2 cup olives with side of a large knife.
• Pat veal shanks dry between paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Dredge top and bottom (not side) of each shank in flour, knocking off excess. In a 12-inch heavy skillet heat 1 tablespoon oil and butter over moderately high heat until foam subsides and brown tops and bottoms of shanks in batches, about 2 minutes on each side. Transfer shanks as browned to a flameproof roasting pan.
• Wipe out skillet and add remaining tablespoon oil. Heat oil over moderate heat until hot but not smoking and cook onion, stirring, until golden. Add garlic and anchovy and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add chopped olives, zest, capers, rosemary, and wine and boil 5 minutes. Add broth and crushed olives and bring to a boil.
• Pour broth mixture over shanks and cover tightly with foil. Braise shanks in oven 2 hours, or until meat is tender. Shanks may be prepared up to this point 2 days ahead and cooled, uncovered, before chilling, covered. Reheat shanks before proceeding.
• Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.
• Transfer shanks with a slotted spoon to another roasting pan or deep oven proof platter and keep warm, covered, in oven. Strain cooking liquid through a sieve into a 1-quart glass measuring cup and reserve solids, discarding zest. Let liquid stand until fat rises to top and skim and discard fat. (There should be about 1 1/2 cups liquid. If necessary, in a saucepan boil liquid until it is reduced.) Add reserved solids to liquid and pour over shanks.
• Serve shanks sprinkled with gremolata and garnished with caper berries.
• Make Gremolata:
• In a small bowl toss all ingredients together well. Makes about 1/3 cup.