Osso Buco with Polenta

[DetlefK]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossobuco
"Osso" is "bone", "buco" is "hole".

I don't know the proper english word, but the cut is this:

A cut right through the cow's leg, muscle, bone, marrow and all. About 1.5 to 2 inches thick. 1 slice serves 2.

1. Cut the skin on the meat down to the muscle, or else the skin contracts during frying and squeezes the meat in a weird way.

2. 1 spoon of flour plus a few spices (thyme, salt, pepper). Coat the cut with the flour on all sides. Gently shake to remove surplus flour. Reserve the flour for later.

3. You need a deep pot, a generous shot of oil on the bottom, really hot. Sear the meat on both sides.

4. Add the vegetables: 1 onion (finely chopped), a few cloves of garlic (finely chopped), 2 to 3 generous handfulls of diced carrots, diced parsley-roots, diced celery... Stir and roast for 10 minutes until the vegetables start to get soft.

5. Add canned tomatoes, a shot of water, a shot of red wine, rosemary-twig, bay-leaf. Stir gently until well-mixed. Bring to boil.

6. If you want a thick broth, dust some of that spiced flour on top of the stew. If not, don't.

7. Put on lid and simmer for 1.5 hours. Stir occasionally.





For the polenta:

1. Yellow corn-flour, from a coarse grind. About 75g per adult, 50g per child.
2. Milk. For a thin polenta a ratio of milk:corn of 6:1, for a medium polenta 5:1, for a thick polenta 4:1.
3. Bring milk to boil. Add spices to your desire (e.g. salt, thyme, roasted garlic, chopped rosemary-needles, lemon-zests...)
4. Once the milk rises, immediately reduce heat and stir in flour. Stir from time to time to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. About 30 minutes.
5. When it's done, finish the polenta by stirring in a knob of butter or a generous handfull of grated Parmesan.





Serve the meat, with the vegetables and the polenta as side-dishes. And definitely spread the marrow on some white bread and enjoy with a pinch of salt.

[packman]

1. It's a shank - be it beef, lamb, veal, etc.

Also, after cutting the skin, use butcher twine to tie around it so it doesn't fall apart while cooking. Great with mashed potatoes also. The marrow (meat jelly) is really the best part, as you said, some hearty white bread with salt/pepper.