I wonder what the poor people were eating last night?

[Twenty five ought six]

You know how every now and then you just get a wild hair?

Well, I had a couple of deer that I was dressing out myself, and I had one of them "great idea" moments.

SWMBO makes a dish with veal shanks, osso bucco, which is extremely tasty. Veal shanks though, if you can find them, or only slightly less expensive than caviar, so we don't have too much, plus it takes a long time to cook.

But there I was, presented with 8 perfectly fine venison shanks. These normally would be cut off and discarded by a processor, and usually by me, but I decided to skin them on out. To be clear, we are talking about the portion of the leg, below the knee joint on the shoulders and hams.

So I ended up with my perfectly cleaned shanks, and I told SWMBO how much I loved her osso bucco, and what a good job she did cooking it, and being as I had fulfilled my biological destiny by stalking and killing sustenance for the family unit, would she consider making osso bucco with venison, because in my opinion it's so close to veal.

Now this is some high class food here, because all the high class chef's have a recipe for it --

Here is GinaDe Laurentis's (who can cook my grits any time she wants, no disrespect to SWMBO) --

Note -- I'm booting the recipe to the end so it won't be so distracting, but as you can see it takes a considerable amount of time and prep work, which is why I emphasized what a GOOD JOB SWMBO does when she cooks it.

Sorry, I didn't get a picture of the raw shanks, but here are the leg bones after they have been browned and braised for a couple of hours. Real veal shank bones are cut into about two inch segments sort of like oxtails, but I didn't do that, and it didn't make much difference --

<img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_9tvWKJ2ku4M/TMrcnIrt5XI/AAAAAAAABcI/5DPCOc6NntI/s640/PA280006.JPG" style="width: 640px; height: 480px; border: 0" alt="imgTag" />

This is the completed dish ready to serve, with the requisite parsley and lemon zest. If you make this, make sure you add the lemon zest --seriously-- because it balances the richness of the meat in a very subtle way.

<img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_9tvWKJ2ku4M/TMrcrU1OZWI/AAAAAAAABcM/SMeWhAxzoXM/s640/PA280007.JPG" style="width: 640px; height: 480px; border: 0" alt="imgTag" />

Vertical view of completed dish --

<img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_9tvWKJ2ku4M/TMrcs3c2kwI/AAAAAAAABcQ/-OTXsBHUTj8/s640/PA280008.JPG" style="width: 640px; height: 480px; border: 0" alt="imgTag" />


A manly portion on the plate, for which I profusely thanked the chef for cooking.

<img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_9tvWKJ2ku4M/TMrcuZ6-2II/AAAAAAAABcU/b4TMceKckyI/s640/PA280009.JPG" style="width: 640px; height: 480px; border: 0" alt="imgTag" />

And a little closer view, where the leg muscle origin of the dish is apparent Served on brown rice, this was just "tongue slapping your forehead" good--
<img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_9tvWKJ2ku4M/TMrcvTgHSkI/AAAAAAAABcY/4_ajd6zv-yM/s640/PA280010.JPG" style="width: 640px; height: 480px; border: 0" alt="imgTag" />

Well, I'm just pleased as punch at being the creative impetus behind using a piece of meat that is usually discarded, and I'm even more pleased that SWMBO was willing to humor me and do the cooking. Dang that was some good stuff.


Gina's recipe--

Ingredients

<!--concordance-begin--> nocoupons

• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 1 dry bay leaf
• 2 whole cloves
• Cheesecloth
• Kitchen twine, for bouquet garni and tying the veal shanks
• 3 whole veal shanks (about 1 pound per shank), trimmed
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• All purpose flour, for dredging
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 small onion, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 small carrot, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 stalk celery, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 3 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest

<!--concordance-end--> Directions

Place the rosemary, thyme, bay leaf and cloves into cheesecloth and secure with twine. This will be your bouquet garni.
For the veal shanks, pat dry with paper towels to remove any excess moisture. Veal shanks will brown better when they are dry. Secure the meat to the bone with the kitchen twine. Season each shank with salt and freshly ground pepper. Dredge the shanks in flour, shaking off excess.
In a large Dutch oven pot, heat vegetable oil until smoking. Add tied veal shanks to the hot pan and brown all sides, about 3 minutes per side. Remove browned shanks and reserve.
In the same pot, add the onion, carrot and celery. Season with salt at this point to help draw out the moisture from the vegetables. Saute until soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the tomato paste and mix well. Return browned shanks to the pan and add the white wine and reduce liquid by half, about 5 minutes. Add the bouquet garni and 2 cups of the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover pan and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is falling off the bone. Check every 15 minutes, turning shanks and adding more chicken stock as necessary. The level of cooking liquid should always be about 3/4 the way up the shank.
Carefully remove the cooked shanks from the pot and place in decorative serving platter. Cut off the kitchen twine and discard.
Remove and discard bouquet garni from the pot.
Pour all the juices and sauce from the pot over the shanks. Garnish with chopped parsley and lemon zest.

 

[Capt Quirk]

We was eating my wife's chicken casserole. Right about now, I'm wishing I knew where you lived

 

[rifleroom]

yes, I will trying that one soon... and very soon! Looks Deeelish!

 

[Hornet22]

Thank you ought six! I usually try to get as much meat from between the sinew to just make some jerky pieces. This will certainly be tried at the cafe' 356 this season.

 

[Y.T.]

That also looks great (just came from your slim jim posting)...


Pork osso bucco is less expensive and just as great...for what that is worth...

 

[Jeff C.]

Looks Great!!! My wife loves Giada.

One man's trash is another man's treasure

 

[Paymaster]

Looks Great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Tugboat1]

Thanks for the great recipe! That's a part of the deer I've never used but will now.

 

[hikingthehills]

Redneck Emeril, I love it it! May have to try that.

 

[trkyhntr70]

That looks incredible!

 

[Dub]

Oh my.


That looks ggggggrrrrrreeeeeaaaaaatttt.

Oustanding meal.