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Ossobuco with Risotto Milanese

Difficulty
Intermediate
Total Time
1H 30MIN
Cuisine

Ingredients

FOR THE OSSOBUCO

Veal shank: 4

Extra virgin olive oil: 4 tbsp

Butter: 40g

Meat stock: 500ml

Bouquet garni: 1 small bunch of mixed herbs (bay leaves, thyme, rosemary)

Garlic: 1 bulb

Celery: 1 stalk

Carrots: 2

White onion: 1 large

White wine: 50ml

Salt and pepper: To taste

All purpose flour: For dusting

FOR THE GREMOLATA

Extra virgin olive oil

Parsley:  1 small bunch

Lemon: 1, zest

Garlic: 1 clove (optional)

FOR THE RISOTTO

Carnaroli rice: 320g

Saffron: 1g (pistils or powder)

Chicken stock: 1l, chicken or vegetable

Grana padano cheese: 100g, grated

Butter: 70g unsalted at room temperature

White wine: 60ml, dry

Onion: 30g, chopped

Extra virgin olive oil: 2 tbsp

Salt and pepper: To taste

Discover how to make ossobuco with risotto Milanese, a warming winter dish from the Fine Dining Lovers series, The Secrets of Italian Food.

Learn how to make an authentic ossobuco with risotto Milanese, with London-based Italian chef, Danilo Cortellini. 
The iconic dish, which hails from Lombardy in northern Italy, centres on a tender fall-apart veal shank, with a melt-in-your-mouth bone marrow centre, set off by a fresh gremolata, on a bed of golden saffron-infused creamy risotto. 
Danilo Cortellini is the host of The Secrets of Italian Cuisine series by Fine Dining Lovers, bringing you authentic tips, Italian flavours and dishes into your home. Prepare to feast on some of Italy's most loved dishes, which you can now re-create at home. 

Method

01.
For the ossobuco

Trim the shank slices with a small knife to remove the excess fat and connective tissue on the outer part, and then season with salt and pepper. 

 

Trimming the shanks.
Braise the meat well ahead as it requires a few hours.
02.

Dust the ossobuco with flour, and in a large pan, heat the olive oil and sear the meat, 4 minutes on each side at a high heat until golden. 

 

 

Dusting the ossobuco.
03.

Move the meat onto a tray, and in the same pan, fry the vegetables roughly chopped in chunks, pour in the wine and season with salt and pepper.

 

Frying the vegetables.
04.

Put the ossobuco back in the pan, add the stock and a bouquet garni and leave to simmer gently, covered with a lid. The ossobuco slices need to braise on low heat for at least 2 hours. Check and turn the meat every now and then, and add more stock or a little water if the cooking juice is reducing too much.

 

 

Adding the stock to the ossobuco.
05.

When cooked, the meat should be super soft and nearly falling apart. Gently remove the ossobuco slices and place them on the side. Strain the cooking liquid into a clean pan to remove the herbs and vegetables, and reduce on low heat if still too liquid – we are looking for an almost sticky/glossy consistency. Put the ossobuco back into the cooking sauce and keep them ready to serve.

 

Cooked ossobuco.
06.
For the gremolata

Chop the parsley and garlic and mix with the lemon zest. Combine with a glug of olive oil and spread it on the hot ossobuco, last-minute, just before serving. 

 

Chopping the parsley and garlic.
07.
For the risotto

Gently fry the chopped onion in a small casserole with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and a pinch of salt for about 10-15 minutes on a low heat, until golden and caramelised. Keep to the side. 

Frying the chopped onion.
08.

In a large pan, toast the rice on a low heat with a pinch of salt, without adding oil or fat. Stir it occasionally, so that the rice doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan or burn. 

Toasting the rice.
09.

When the rice is very hot, pour the white wine in. Let the alcohol evaporate. 

 

Adding the white wine.
10.

Set the cooking time to 16 minutes and add simmering stock, a ladle at a time, letting the rice absorb it. Stir the rice occasionally, and keep cooking on medium heat. Now you can add the cooked onion to the rice.

Adding stock.
11.

Halfway through the cooking, soak the saffron in a ladle of hot stock and let it soften. Now add the saffron flavoured stock into the risotto and continue to cook, it will progressively become more yellow and flavoursome. Once the time is up, if you’re happy with the texture, remove the risotto from the heat.

Soaking the saffron.
12.

The next step is called mantecatura – with the right movements you can make the risotto creamier by emulsifying the fats with the liquid. Add the grated grana padano and butter to the rice. Stir with energy to incorporate extra air until the risotto is nice and creamy. Season to taste.

 

Mantecatura steps.
13.
Final plating

Plate the risotto in shallow bowls, top with the piping hot ossobuco and its sauce, and finish off with a spoon of gremolata.

Final plating.
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