Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [167]
2. When the oil is quite hot, put in the breast, skin side facing down. The oil should sizzle when the meat goes in. Add the rosemary. Brown the meat deeply on one side, then on the other. Add salt and pepper, cook a minute or two longer, turning the breast 2 or 3 times, then add the wine. When the wine has bubbled briskly for 20 or 30 seconds, turn the heat down to low, and cover the pan, setting the lid slightly ajar.
3. Turn the meat from time to time while it cooks. If you find it sticking, loosen it with the help of 2 or 3 tablespoons of water and check the heat to make sure you are cooking at a very gentle pace. The veal is done when it feels very tender when prodded with a fork and has become colored a lovely brown all over. Expect it to take 2 to 2½ hours.
4. Transfer the breast to a cutting board with the ribs facing you. Use a sharp boning knife to work the bones loose, pull them away, and discard them. Carve the meat into thin slices, cutting it on the diagonal. Put the sliced meat on a warm serving platter.
5. Tip the pan, and spoon off some of the fat. Turn the heat on to medium, put in 2 or 3 tablespoons of water, and boil it away while using a wooden spoon to scrape loose cooking residues from the bottom and sides. Pour the pan juices over the veal and bring to the table promptly.
Ossobuco—Braised Veal Shanks, Milanese Style
Ossobuco, oss bus in Milan’s dialect, means “bone with a hole.” The particular bone in question is that of a calf’s hind shank, and the ring of meat that circles it is the sweetest and most tender on the entire animal. To be sure that it is as meltingly tender on the plate as Nature had intended, be guided by the following suggestions:
• Insist that the shank come from the meatier hind leg only. If you are buying it in a supermarket and are in doubt, look for one of the butchers who is usually on hand during the day, and ask him.
• Have the ossobuco cut no thicker than 1½ inches. It is the size at which it cooks best. Thick ossobuco, however impressive it looks on the plate, rarely cooks long and slowly enough, and it usually ends up being chewy and stringy.
• Make sure the butcher does not remove the skin enveloping the shanks. It not only helps to hold the ossobuco together while it cooks, but its creamy consistency makes a delectable contribution to the final flavor of the dish.
• Be prepared to give ossobuco time enough to cook. Slow, patient cooking is essential if you want to protect the shank’s natural juiciness.
Note When you are buying a whole shank, ask the butcher to saw off both ends for you. You don’t want them in the ossobuco because they don’t have much meat, but they make a splendid addition to the assorted components of a homemade meat broth.
For 6 to 8 servings
1 cup onion chopped fine
⅔ cup carrot chopped fine
⅔ cup celery chopped fine
4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter
1 teaspoon garlic chopped fine
2 strips lemon peel with none of the white pith beneath it
⅓ cup vegetable oil
8 1½-inch-thick slices of veal hind shank, each tied tightly around the middle
Flour, spread on a plate
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup Basic Homemade Meat Broth, prepared as directed, OR ½ cup canned beef broth with
½ cup water
1½ cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped, with their juice
½ teaspoon fresh thyme OR ¼ teaspoon dried
2 bay leaves
2 or 3 sprigs of parsley
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
Salt
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Choose a pot with a heavy bottom or of enameled cast iron that can subsequently accommodate all the veal shanks in a single layer. (If you do not have a single pot large enough, use two smaller ones, dividing the ingredients into two equal halves, but adding 1 extra tablespoon of butter for each pot.) Put in the onion, carrot, celery, and butter, and turn on the heat to medium. Cook for about 6 to 7 minutes, add the chopped garlic and lemon peel, cook another 2 or 3 minutes until the vegetables soften and wilt, then remove from heat.
3. Put the vegetable