Essential · about 3 hours, almost all of it braising · Serves 4
Ossobuco alla milanese with saffron risotto and gremolata
The same root as the risotto alla milanese with glazed osso buco cubes: yellow saffron rice, finished with Parmigiano, and braised osso buco. This version goes back to the dish of the Milan trattorias, the ossobuco with its bone and marrow, served beside the risotto giallo and finished with gremolata.
The twist is to respect the timing of each. The osso buco is braised whole with white wine, tomato and stock until the meat separates from the bone, and its sauce is reduced to coat. The risotto is made in the last twenty minutes, with hot stock and infused saffron, and finished with butter off the heat. The lemon, garlic and parsley gremolata cuts the richness of both.
Special equipment: wide pot with lid; heavy-bottomed saucepan for the risotto
Ingredients
Braised osso buco
- 4 veal shank slices (osso buco), 3–4 cm thick, about 300 g each
- 30 g flour
- Fine salt and black pepper
- 30 ml olive oil
- 20 g butter
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, finely chopped
- 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 200 ml dry white wine
- 200 g crushed tomatoes
- 500 ml beef or poultry stock
- 1 bay leaf
Saffron risotto
- 1.2 liters hot clear stock
- 0.2 g saffron threads, or 1 sachet of ground saffron
- 1 small onion, very finely chopped
- 20 g butter, plus 40 g cold for finishing
- 320 g Carnaroli or Arborio rice
- 80 ml dry white wine
- 70 g grated Parmesan-style cheese
- Fine salt
Gremolata
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 garlic clove, very finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
Method
Braised osso buco
- Preparation. Make two or three cuts in the membrane around the edge of each slice, so it does not curl. Season and dredge in flour, shaking off the excess.
- Browning. Heat the oil and butter in the pot over medium-high heat and brown the slices 4 minutes per side, to a brown crust. Remove them.
- Braising. Lower the heat and cook the onion, carrot and celery 8–10 minutes, until soft; add the garlic 1 minute. Deglaze with the wine and reduce by half. Add the tomato, stock and bay leaf, return the meat in a single layer and bring to a gentle boil. Cover and cook over the lowest heat 2 h – 2 h 30 min, turning the slices halfway, careful not to lose the marrow, until the meat separates from the bone with a fork. Uncover for the last 15 minutes to reduce the sauce until it coats a spoon. Adjust the salt.
Saffron risotto
- Saffron. Infuse the saffron in a ladle of hot stock.
- Toasting. Sweat the onion in the 20 g of butter over low heat 6–8 minutes, without browning. Add the rice and toast it 2–3 minutes, stirring, until the grains are hot and pearly. Deglaze with the wine and let it evaporate.
- Cooking. Add the hot stock one ladle at a time, stirring often and adding the next when the previous is absorbed. At 10 minutes, add the saffron with its stock. Continue 6–8 minutes more, until the grain is al dente, with the center barely firm, and the risotto is fluid.
- Finishing with butter. Turn off the heat, add the cold butter and the cheese and beat vigorously with the spoon 1 minute, until creamy and it forms a wave when the pot is moved. Cover and rest 1 minute; adjust the salt.
Gremolata
- Mixing. Mix the zest, garlic and parsley right before serving.
The dish
Use wide, hot flat plates. Serve the risotto on one side of the plate and tap the base so it spreads into an oval shape. Set beside it a slice of osso buco with its bone and marrow in view, coated with its sauce, and let a little sauce touch the edge of the risotto. Finish the osso buco with a teaspoon of gremolata. Final look: an intense yellow, creamy, wavy risotto, the dark, glossy meat with the bone and marrow, and the green and yellow of the gremolata.
Key points
- Cut the membrane at the edge so the slice does not curl.
- Braise covered, over the lowest heat, until the meat separates from the bone.
- Move the slices carefully so as not to lose the marrow.
- Add the risotto stock always hot and one ladle at a time.
- Finish with butter off the heat and serve at once.
Pairing
A Nebbiolo or a Barbera; also a light Malbec. Without alcohol, sparkling water with lemon.
Notes
- Storage: the osso buco in its sauce keeps up to 3 days at 5 °C (41 °F) or below. Reheat it covered over low heat to 74 °C (165 °F).