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Good morning and welcome back one and all.
It’s official. I’m already sick of the March Madness thing. It has NOTHING to do with the fact that my bracket sucks hyena balls, I swear.
Besides, BASEBALL IS HERE! Glorious, glorious baseball. How I’ve missed you.
I’ve found that over the years my sports watching preferences have most definitely changed. It used to be the “Manly House of Sportsball” like 24/7 up in the right house. Shit man, now there are entire days that go by when I watch ZERO sports and don’t really fucking miss it.
My prime sports are still football, basically just NFL anymore and of course baseball. Also, thanks to you degenerates I’m an avid follower of the EPL and Aussie Rules footy!
I do the March Madness thing, obviously, until losing interest, which was the first goddamn weekend this year. I also watch the NBA and NHL playoffs but strictly based on match up. I don’t have to watch every game in every series. My ass is getting older and I like to partition my time out a little more judiciously.
You put a Cubs game on my TV though? Imma watch the shit out of that.
Plus it’s that whole new spring, new possibilities thing that I fall for like a dumbshit every fucking year.
I’m serendipitous like that!
For our menu inspiration today, we return once again to the Mock Draft at the end of last season, the one where folks were asked to list things they would like to see me cook on Sunday Gravy.
Today’s menu happened courtesy of our own LemonJello:
“Has Yeah Right done Osso Buco? Because I pick Osso Buco.”
To answer, “No, I have not.” And Yes, Let’s do just that.
We begin the day prior to the festivities with these 3 ingredients.
Why you ask?
Because those 3 ingredients; Italian parsley, lemon zest and garlic will make…
Gremolata!
Really? Nothing?
Alright Wiki. Get your ass to work.
“Gremolada (Italian: [ɡremoˈlaːta]) or gremolata (Italian: [ɡremoˈlaːda], Lombard: [ɡremuˈlaːda]) is a green sauce made with chopped parsley, lemon zest, and garlic. It is the standard accompaniment to the Milanese braised veal shank dish ossobuco alla milanese.”
Think chimichurri and you’ll get the idea. This puts a bit of brightness and that extra zip of lemon to help cut through the richness of the osso buco and folks? This is a rich motherfucker today.
Finely mince a bunch of the parsley, zest the lemon and put another fine mince on the garlic.
Combine.
Cover and refrigerate overnight. Hell, make it a few days in advance and let the flavors mingle.
Osso buco is usually prepared with veal shanks and since veal shanks ain’t exactly standard fare at your average risk-avoiding grocery store meat section, guess that means I’m off to my favorite local meat store.
You’ve seen this one before.
Most hilariously, two doors down is the pet hospital. I’ll let you sort that on your own.
As much as this place is awesome, alas they did not have veal shanks. What they did have was a whole wide selection of lamb cuts.
Lamb shanks it is.
Only slightly problematic because the very words “Osso” (bone) and “Buco” (hole or the hole in the shank) means having a marrow bone so marrow can be part of the dish.
Had a wee bit of a problem finding the bone holes in the lamb shanks.
A sentence that I’m not sure has ever previously been constructed in such a way .
We push on because it’s the deep, rich, slow roasted, meaty flavor we’re after today.
OSSO BUCO!
recipe courtesy of billyparisi.com
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 8-ounce veal (or lamb) shanks
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 peeled and large diced yellow onion
1 peeled and large diced carrot
2 peeled and large diced celery stalks
6-8 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cups roughly chopped fresh tomatoes
2 cups dry red wine, Sangiovese or Barolo or a nice full bodied Italian red
4 cups of beef stock
2 bay leaves
1 bunch of Italian parsley
20 to 25 fresh thyme sprigs
Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Yeah that sounds like a lot but for the osso buco itself? You’re basically just making a stew.
You can do this.
Away we go!
[The following recipe will be presented in pictorial form]
You got your mire poix in whole “uncloven” form so get with the chopping already.
For tomatoes I selected some lovely roma tomatoes. Because, well fuck. We’re cooking an Italian dish.
Aw the hell with it. Chop up all of the remaining vegetation.
Let’s get a look at our victim I mean our protein for the menu.
Yeah, I can fuck with that.
Flour them shanks up and give a good amount of seasoning with the salt and pepper.
Heat up some oil in a Dutch oven and sear these off.
About 5 minutes per side.
When the meat has been seared, add the onion, carrot and celery to the same pot.
Cook for 4-5 minutes then add in the tomato paste and the garlic. Stir to slightly brown the garlic and incorporate the tomato paste.
Here’s the wine I was able to find for use in the dish.
Couldn’t find a barrolo and not a huge fan of chianti so I subbed a lovely Tuscan red instead.
Pour in 2 cups of the wine and add the tomatoes and beef stock to the pot.
In goes the herbage next. The parsley and the fresh thyme.
Add the lamb back to the pot being sure to submerge the shanks as much as possible.
Slap a lid on this bad motherfucker and then into a 325 degree preheated oven she goes for about 2 and 1/2 hours.
After which time you should have something a little like this.
Let rest for a few minutes before serving.
While the serving options are many, including with pasta and risotto (which you are all now experts at) there was one specific option that I had in mind.
Goddamn right we are!
Polenta is pretty similar to making grits if you’ve had the opportunity to make grits. Hell, it basically IS fucking grits just a different variety of corn meal.
In fact, reflecting back, this entire meal is VERY similar to a dish I made back in 2017
Anyone remember the Grillades and Grits episode?
Check this shit out!
Chunks of meat slow roasted with a mire poix, tomatoes and wine and served over cheesy grits?
I’ll let the Italians and the French and the Cajuns sort that shit out. Diplomacy was never my strong suit but ain’t this the same damn thing?
I guess the lack of the “Bone Hole” is the difference.
Let’s make some fucking polenta already.
Polenta!
1 cup of polenta
32 ounces of chicken stock, veggie stock or even water
2-3 tablespoons of butter
1/3 – 1/2 cup of grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Salt to taste
While the stock is heating let’s address our cheese.
Hello Cheese.
Mind if I grate you up, Cheese?
You’re gonna need one of these, OK?
Don’t worry! I’m sure I gave some of you PTSD with my risotto episode but this isn’t THAT much stirring.
Kind of.
When the stock is at a low boil start slowly pouring in the polenta.
Now start whisking while you continue to gradually pour in the polenta.
Once all of the polenta has been added to the stock you need to constantly stir the polenta for the first 5 minutes. This shit is absolutely fucking crucial if you want to make sure your polenta doesn’t have lumps.
You don’t want lumpy polenta do you?! Only an asshole would want lumpy polenta and we’re much better than that!
Continue to whisk as the polenta thickens.
When the polenta has thickened to the point that a whisk just don’t cut it no more, switch to a heavy wooden spoon.
Scrape down the sides of the pot as you go.
After stirring for the first 5 minutes, lower the heat to”low” cover the pot and let simmer for 30 minutes.
You now only need to stir a few stirs every 5-6 minutes.
When the 30 minutes have elapsed turn off the heat and add in the butter and the cheese.
Mix thoroughly and season with salt if desired.
Of course you’re going to have a taste or three.
People? This is ridiculously fucking delicious. I’m already figuring out when I can make it again.
Let’s take a gander at what we’ve done here, alright?
Scoop of polenta, ladle of osso buco, top with the gremolata.
Oh shit. There it is.
How about a close-up?
Absolutely a fucking showstopper,
Drop dead goddamn amazing.
While the temptation to continue to just shovel this shit down your pie hole was most definitely there, I have to tell you, this fucker weighs heavy in the belly.
Woof!
Nice part about that?
Next day I cut the polenta that I had chilled overnight, into wedges. Then heated up the osso buco, fried up some potatoes then, BOOM!
Breakfast for dinner.
My god. Both elements of this dish are going in the rotation. So fucking good. I’m really hoping to actually find the veal shanks out there some day so I can try that but the lamb dish was KILLER. So rich, and deep and hits of the wine, tomato and garlic and served on the creamy, cheesy polenta?
I’d pay $37.99 for this!
The only bummer was I should have bought a second bottle of the Tuscan red wine because it was flawless served alongside. Alas, I really missed those 2 cups that went in the stockpot.
For next time. I’ll remember.
Thanks for the suggestion LemonJello!
Today’s positive holiday observances brought to you by A Bit of Good News: “March 30 is National Doctors Day, National Pencil Day, National Virtual Vacation Day, Keep Moving Forward Day, Pillow Fight Day and Take a Walk in the Park Day.”
Take a walk in the park with your doctor then get in a pillow fight?
Anyway.
Thanks for stopping by and following along. It’s always appreciated.
Until next week, folks.
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