Beef Osso Buco (Jay's Way)

A friend came over once and made me osso buco. It was an amazing meal (though my kitchen was a disaster afterwards. Boys leave such crazy messes in the kitchen)! I couldn't stop thinking about how yummy and tender the meat was, how creamy the polenta tasted, and how the amazing sauce tied it all together. Even better, the leftover pot of broth! I made chorizo mussels with it for dinner the next day. Two meals from one pot? Hell yes. Both meals in one dinner? Double hell yes. I had a dinner party for 8 during Christmas time and this was the perfect meal! Get this, I had salad for the first course, osso buco for the second, mussels with bread for the third, and then dessert. Osso buco is an Italian dish of braised veal shanks. Perhaps I'm in an Italian state of mind since I'll be going to Italy in 2 weeks! I'll post my osso buco recipe today. On friday, come back for how to make chorizo mussels in the same broth! This recipe is how I cook it, but others may prepare on a stove and then oven. Ingredients:

• 4 - 6 pieces of veal shanks (about 3 pounds)
• 1/2 cup diced carrot
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1-2 cups beef stock
• 1 (14.5 oz) can of diced tomatoes
• Flour
• Butter
• Salt and pepper for tasting

Essential Cooking Tool: Pressure Cooker Invest in a pressure cooker and I bet you'll never use your crock pot again! Directions: 1. Dust the veal shanks lightly with flour. Heat up butter in your pressure cooker until melted, and brown the veal shanks on medium/medium-high heat. Set veal shanks aside. 2. Add chopped garlic, carrots, and onion to the pressure cooker, and stir until onion is tender. Add the wine and scrap up all the browned bits in the cooker. Simmer for 15 minutes. 3. Pour in the tomatoes and beef stock, and add thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Then add the veal back into the pressure cooker. 4. Cook the veal in the pressure cooker for 45 minutes (according to your manual's instructions). 5. Once cooked, serve with mashed potatoes or polenta. Polenta directions: Bring 6 cups of water to a boil, add 2 teaspoons of salt, and whisk in 1 and 3/4 cups of cornmeal. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the mixture thickens and the cornmeal is tender. Stir often. Turn off the heat, and add 3 tablespoons of butter until combined and melted. It's a great meal to make when you have guests since you can easily make a huge pot of food. It's also a fancy meal that will leave your guests impressed. Have you ever had osso buco before? Where and did you like it? Is this a recipe you can recreate? Remember to come back on Friday for my chorizo mussels using leftover broth from the osso buco. Love, Jay