Veal ossobuco with lemon gremolata and polenta
Veal shank slices gently braised with wine, stock and vegetables, a concentrated sauce that coats the meat, marrow to scoop out with a teaspoon, and the bright fragrance of garlic, parsley and lemon added at the end.
Ingredients for two
| 700 g | Veal shank for ossobuco, bone-in slices 4 cm thick 2 slices, 350 g each and 4 cm thick, sawn and tied by the kosher butcher |
| 20 g | Plain wheat flour 2 level tbsp, for dusting |
| 50 g | Extra virgin olive oil 25 g for the casserole, 25 g to finish the polenta |
| 120 g | Yellow onions 1 small onion, cut into 5 mm dice |
| 80 g | Carrots 1 carrot, cut into 5 mm dice |
| 50 g | Celery 1 small stalk, cut into 5 mm dice |
| 150 g | Kosher dry white wine 1 glass dry kosher wine |
| 200 g | Tinned whole peeled tomatoes, such as San Marzano (400 g tin) ½ tin with its juice, tomatoes crushed |
| 5 g | Chicken stock cubes ½ cube, dissolved in the hot braising water |
| 1050 g | Water 250 g for braising, with the liquid halfway up the slices; 800 g for the polenta |
| 0.3 g | Dried bay leaves 1 leaf |
| 2 g | Fresh thyme 2 sprigs |
| 160 g | Polenta (maize meal) traditional bramata polenta, with a 40–45 minute cooking time |
| 15 g | Flat-leaf parsley leaves chopped for the gremolata |
| 5 g | Garlic 1 clove, very finely chopped |
| 60 g | Lemon ½ lemon: finely grated zest and 10 g juice |
| 10 g | Fine salt 3 g for the veal, 1 g for the sauce, as the half stock cube already adds salt, and 6 g for the polenta |
| 1 g | Ground black pepper ½ level tsp |
Method
- Cut the onion, carrot and celery into 5 mm dice. With the tip of a knife, make 3 or 4 cuts through the white membrane around the edge of each veal slice, without removing it, so the slices stay flat during cooking. Pat the veal dry, season with 3 g salt and the pepper, and coat both sides in flour; shake off the excess. Heat 25 g oil over a medium-high heat in a 26 cm casserole. Brown the two slices for 4 minutes on each side without crowding them or moving them before they have coloured, then set aside. Leave the string in place to hold the pieces together.
- Reduce the heat to medium and cook the onion, carrot and celery in the casserole for 8 minutes, stirring. The vegetables should soften and turn lightly golden without blackening. Pour in the wine, scrape up the browned juices and reduce over a high heat for 3 minutes, until the liquid has lost about half its volume.
- Dissolve the half stock cube in 250 g hot water. Add the tomatoes, this stock, the bay leaf, thyme and 1 g salt to the casserole. Return the veal and its juices: the liquid should come halfway up the slices, no higher; if it does not reach halfway, top up with a little hot water. Bring just to a simmer, cover, turn the heat to its lowest setting and set a timer. Cook for 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes. After 1 hour, turn the slices just once with the wide spatula, keeping the bones level so the marrow does not fall out.
- During the braising time, check the sauce every 30 minutes: it should simmer with a few small bubbles, never boil vigorously. If it falls below one-third of the way up the slices, add 50 g hot water.
- After 1 hour 5 minutes of braising, measured on the timer, bring the 800 g water for the polenta to the boil in the saucepan with 6 g salt. Pour in the cornmeal in a steady stream, whisking for 2 minutes. Partially cover and cook over a very low heat for 40–45 minutes; stir every 5 minutes, scraping the bottom. Taste after 30 minutes and adjust the salt. It is ready when the grains no longer feel gritty between the teeth and it falls from the spoon in a thick ribbon.
- After 1 hour 45 minutes, check the veal for tenderness: a fork should slide in effortlessly and the meat should begin to come away from the bone while the string holds it together; if not, continue cooking in 15-minute intervals. Meanwhile, chop the parsley with the garlic and finely grated zest of the half lemon, avoiding the white pith: this is the gremolata. When the veal is tender, set it aside, covered, and remove the thyme and bay leaf. Reduce the sauce uncovered over a medium heat for 5–8 minutes, until it coats the spoon well. Taste and adjust the salt, then return the meat for 1 minute to heat through.
- Off the heat, stir half the gremolata and 10 g lemon juice into the sauce. Also off the heat, stir the 25 g oil and 2 tbsp veal sauce into the polenta; taste both the polenta and sauce and adjust the salt. Cut and remove the strings with scissors, keeping the bones level. Place a slice of veal on each plate of polenta, spoon over the sauce and finish with the remaining gremolata: its fragrance should stay fresh. Serve with a teaspoon: scoop out the marrow and spread it on the polenta with a pinch of gremolata.
Lighter version
- Polenta (maize meal) : 120 g
- Water : 850 g
- Extra virgin olive oil : 30 g
Braise the veal the day before, following steps 1–4 and step 6 through reducing the sauce. Leave to cool, then remove the solidified fat from the surface of the cold sauce before reheating over a low heat for 20–25 minutes.
At step 5, cook 120 g polenta in 600 g water with 5 g salt; at step 7, finish with just 5 g oil and 2 tbsp of the sauce with its fat removed.
Fat removed from the sauce, a smaller polenta portion and less finishing oil: the dish keeps all its flavour, with less polenta and fat.
On your plate
Recipe
1051 kcal · protein 85 g · carbs 81 g · fat 41 g
Quantities per person
- 350 g Veal shank for ossobuco, bone-in slices 4 cm thick
- 10 g Plain wheat flour
- 25 g Extra virgin olive oil
- 60 g Yellow onions
- 40 g Carrots
- 25 g Celery
- 75 g Kosher dry white wine
- 100 g Tinned whole peeled tomatoes, such as San Marzano (400 g tin)
- 2.5 g Chicken stock cubes
- 525 g Water
- 0.15 g Dried bay leaves
- 1 g Fresh thyme
- 80 g Polenta (maize meal)
- 7.5 g Flat-leaf parsley
- 2.5 g Garlic
- 30 g Lemon
- 5 g Fine salt
- 0.5 g Ground black pepper
Cooking tips
Cooking time depends on the shank: allow the full 3 hours stated and continue cooking gently if a fork still meets resistance. For more even cooking, place the covered casserole in a 160°C oven for the same time, turning after 1 hour and checking the sauce level at the same intervals. The shank is a bone-in cut, prepared and tied by the butcher. Braising it the day before makes it easy to remove the fat from the cold sauce; reheat over a low heat for 20–25 minutes and make the gremolata at the last moment. If the veal takes longer than the polenta, keep the polenta covered over the lowest heat, stirring and loosening it with a spoonful of hot water if needed. If using instant polenta, start it only in the last 10 minutes, with the same amount of water. Without a stock cube, cook 15 g double-concentrated tomato purée with the soffritto for 1 minute before adding the wine. The nutrition calculation for 700 g includes the bones and overestimates the amount of meat eaten.
Lombardy-inspired ossobuco, braised in a small amount of wine and stock, with gremolata; polenta made with olive oil and no dairy ingredients.