for sunday lunch, my sister-in-law prepared osso buco. actually the day before she was texting to ask if i had a bottle of white wine handy (which i didn’t) and when she said it was for osso buco, i knew this was a lunch i didn’t want to miss.
basically, osso buco is an italian veal stew. it’s not hard to prepare, but it’s one of those dishes that certainly need a lot of love. in a heavy pan, put in olive oil then garlic, onions, tomatoes, carrots, and celery. cook this down slowly – let all those great flavors come out. then deglaze the pan with wine. put in the pre-browned shanks (in this case i think my sis in law used beef) and then let everything slowly simmer together until the meat is falling off the bone. garnish with parsley and feel free to put in a dash of lemon or calamansi and a little splash of olive oil.
i love dishes like these - i tend to romanticize them a bit and think that osso buco was something poor people used to make using the less choice cut of meat and throwing in whatever vegetables they had handy and leftover wine and mixing it all together to come up with something truly wonderful. of course, that version in my head may be completely wrong. but somehow thinking of things that way gives the dish a little more soul, yummy as it already is.
