I know, I know, I've been slack. Unfortunately when my life gets hectic, certain things tend to suffer. this is also why i am incapable of keeping pets, or growing plants. my cactus is even spiting me. After going all wrinkly due to a lack of water, i put it out one day when it rained. obviously, it started to flower!Anyway, back to the topic at hand: osso buco (osso bucco? it's spelt "bucco" in the book, but i am unsure of the spelling myself, and since i have no idea, i won't even bother commenting).
I went away to the dandenongs on the weekend, to a nice little cottage in kallista. i thought it might be nice to bring some food, something simple for one night, to share over a bottle of red.
as my girlfriend isn't a fan of cooking and leaves me to it, i thought that i would take advantage of that and make something simple. After trawling around, i came onto this post: sarah cooks: osso bucco
I had already bought the tobie puttock book (myer had a 40% off sale) so i thought that i'd give it a go. i'd add the recipe here, but i am not sure if i am able to? i don't understand copyright laws, and i can't be stuffed working it out. after all, it's osso buco - there are 20 million recipes available. basically, you brown the meat (your choice of veal or beef shins, and probably shanks too), and after removing the meat (in the same pot) add some diced vegies, wine, stock, and throw some carbs onto the plate.
i won't bore you with all the steps, but here's some things i found:
- i like garlic. lots of garlic. so mine ended up loaded with herbs and garlic (initially, the recipe didn't have enough garlic in it. i added a few whole cloves too, as i like the flavour and the sweetness of them.
- same with wine - i added a bit more to it because i liked it (and i felt guilty drinking a whole bottle on my own. ok, no i didn't, but i wanted to act like i did).
- there was a bit of a debate about the stock not reducing on sarah's blog, and so i left it cooking for a while longer (i think 5 hours as compared to 3.5 hours). as a result, after chilling it in the fridge, all the juices turned to a jelly! it wasn't a problem as after reheating it was fine, but kinda funny, and a little bit gross.
- For the carbs, i made a polenta mash. i love polenta, but it's so heavy. i ended up making mashed potato with heaps of garlic butter, and then folding it into the polenta, then adding some milk. also, i added chilli powder and a little chicken stock to add to the flavour. it turned out very nice, either reheated, or pan fried, it was like a croquette, and best of all, it soaked up all the yummy juices!
