Ossobuco Tagine (Moroccan Style Ossobuco)

With Easter quickly approaching I figured that it was about time to start testing some dishes for my Easter menu and I had several ideas. Up first was this Moroccan style osso buco inspired by this recipe for ossobuco with prunes, apricots and saffron from What's For Lunch Honey?. I always enjoy combining cooking styles and flavours from different cuisines and I knew that if you took two already amazing dishes, ossobuco and apricot lamb tagine, and combined them that you would have a winner and I just had to try it. Ossobuco is an Italian dish where a veal shank is braised in a wine broth along with vegetables and a tajine is a North African dish that is slowly braised in a tajine and it commonly includes both sweet and savoury aspects along with a warm Moroccan spice blend. For the recipe, I started out with my ossobuco recipe and then I added some dried apricots and prunes along with a blend of warm spices. Don't let the length of the ingredients in this recipe fool you, it is actually pretty easy to make and it only requires about a half an hour of hands on time with the rest of the time spent slowly braising in the oven. The ossobuco tagine turned out really well! I have to say that the sweet and savoury aspects of this dish worked fantastically and you just scan't miss that super tender, falling of the bone veal. I served the ossobuco tajine on some whole wheat couscous and garnished it with a gremolata. This ossobuco tajine would definitely be welcome on my Easter menu!

Ossobuco Tagine

A Moroccan take on osso buco. Veal shanks braised in a sweet and savoury tomato sauce with a Moroccan spice blend.

Servings: makes 2 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours 30 minutes

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 veal shanks, with skin
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 1/2 cup carrot, diced
• 1/2 cup celery, diced
• 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 cup beef or veal stock
• 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/4 cup dried apricots, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup prunes, coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon harissa
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 pinch saffron
• 2 bay leaves
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Season the veal with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour, shaking off any excess.
2. Heat the oil in a large oven proof pan over medium-high heat.
3. Brown the veal on all sides and set aside.
4. Add the onions, carrots, celery and saute over medium heat until tender, about 10-15 minutes.
5. Add the garlic and ginger and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.
6. Add the wine and deglaze the pan.
7. Add the stock, tomatoes, tomato paste, apricots, prunes, harissa, paprika, cayenne, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, saffron, bay leaves, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
8. Add the veal, cover, transfer to a preheated 350F oven and braise until the veal is fall off the bone tender, about 2-3 hours. Check the pot every once in a while and if the liquid drops below half way up the veal, add some more stock.

Similar Recipes:
Osso Buco
Apricot Lamb Tagine
Moroccan Lamb Tagine
Braised Short Rib Ragu
Moroccan Butternut Squash, Chickpea and Quinoa Tagine

Osso Buco

Osso buco is a dish that has been popping up on my radar for a while now and it always looks so good. Even just the description of it sounds great; "Veal shanks braised in a white wine and tomato sauce." Braising is one of my favorite ways of cooking meat as it always turns out perfectly falling apart tender and full of flavour. The ossobuco veal shank is cut such that the marrow of the bone is exposed and it starts to melt into the pot as the veal braises infusing the dish with even more flavour. Osso bucco is commonly served with a gremolata topping that consists of chopped up garlic, parsley and lemon zest. The gremolata topping sounded so good that I could not pass on it. Risotto alla milanese or risotto flavoured with saffron is also commonly served with osso buco and I thought that it would be a perfect bed to soak up all of the excess sauce.

The osso buco takes a bit of time to make for the braising but otherwise it is pretty simple. While the meat is braising you have plenty of time to make the risotto and the gremolata at a relaxed pace. The osso buco with risotto alla milanese and gremolata was great! The meat was so tender and the sauce was absolutely packed with flavour. The tasty sauce went really well with the creamy risotto which quickly soaked up its flavours. The gremolata added a really nice touch of freshness to the meal. (I wonder what other dishes I can use a gremolata with?) I made enough for leftovers and now I will get to enjoy this tasty meal all week.

Osso Buco

(makes 4 servings)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
4 veal shank
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup flour
4 ounces pancetta (chopped)
1 onion (chopped)
1 carrot (chopped)
1 stalk celery (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 lemon (zest only)
2 cups white wine
2 cups beef stock
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig rosemary

Directions:
1. Season the veal with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour shaking off any excess.
2. Cook the pancetta in a large oven proof pan and set aside reserving the grease in the pan.
3. Brown the veal on all sides on med/high heat one at a time and set aside.
4. Add some more oil to the pan if needed and saute the onions, carrots, celery, garlic and lemon zest on medium heat until tender, about 7-9 minutes.
5. Add the wine, stock and tomatoes and deglaze the pan and bring to a simmer.
6. Add the pancetta, veal, bay leaves, thyme and rosemary and bring to a simmer.
7. Cover and transfer to a preheated 350F oven and cook until the veal is fall off the bone tender, about 1 to 2.5 hours, turning the veal over in the middle. (Check the liquid every once in a while and top it off with some more beef broth if it falls to half way up the veal.)

Gremolata

Ingredients:
1/2 cup parsley (chopped)
1 lemon (zest only)
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 handful toasted pine nuts

Directions:
1. Mix everything.

Similar Recipes:
Ossobuco Tagine
Braised Short Rib Ragu
Chicken Giouvetsi
Chicken Cacciatore (Hunter Style Chicken)
Fish a la Spetsiota

Veal Scallopini with Sundried Tomato Sauce

I have been wanting to try anchovies for a while now and I finally got around to picking some up. I had bookmarked several interesting sounding recipes and at the top of the list was Anthony Sedlak's recipe for Veal Scallopini with Sundried Tomato Sauce from the show "The Main" on the Food Network. The sundried tomato sauce sounded so good! I really liked the idea of basing a sauce with sundried tomatoes and a full head of roasted garlic certainly helped. The sundried tomato sauce came together pretty easily and it tasted really good! It went well with he slightly crispy and juicy and tender veal cutlets. When I first opened the jar of anchovies I was greeted with a fishy smell but after cooking in the sauce the smell went away and there was no fishy taste. The chopped anchovies pretty much disappeared into the sauce and there was no flavour that I could identify as the anchovies in the sauce. I am however, sure that the sauce would not have been as tasty without the anchovies. Overall it was a good start to my exploration of anchovies. I served the veal scallopini with sundried tomato sauce on polenta with some steamed broccolini.

Veal Scallopini

Ingredients:
4 veal cutlets
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup flour
3 eggs (lightly beaten)
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano (grated)
3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a pan.
2. Season the veal cutlets with salt and pepper.
3. Dredge the veal cutlets in the flour.
4. Dip the veal cutlets into the eggs.
5. Dredge the veal cutlets in the bread crumbs.
6. Cook the veal cutlets in th oil until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes per side.

Sundried Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot (chopped)
2 anchovy fillets (chopped)
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes (chopped)
1 head roasted garlic
1/3 cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a pan.
2. Add the shallots and anchovies and saute until the anchovies break down
3. Add the sundried tomatoes and roasted garlic and saute for another minute.
4. Add the white wine, deglaze the pan and simmer to reduce.
5. Add the chicken stock and simmer to reduce to a sauce like consistency.
6. Lower the heat and melt in the butter.
7. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

Similar Recipes:
Veal Scaloppine with Mushroom Marsala Sauce
Veal Scaloppine with Lemon Cream Sauce

Saltimbocca alla Romana

Recently I have been seeing "Saltimbocca alla Romana" come up in a few places and I wanted to try it. It looked pretty simple, in fact, looking at the recipe I was a little worried that it would be a little plain. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of flavour. The sage flavour infused the veal and the sauce from deglazing the pan was full of flavour. I can see why this dish is called "hop in the mouth". This dish shows off the sage really nicely.

Ingredients:
4 veal scallopini (thinly sliced and pounded thinner)
4 slices prosciutto
4 sage leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup white wine

Directions:
1. Lay the veal out flat and top with a slice of prosciutto.
2. Place a sage leaf at one end and roll the veal up.
3. Pierce the roll with a toothpick to hold it together.
4. Heat the oil in a pan.
5. Add the veal rolls and brown on all sides.
6. Add the wine and deglaze the pan.

Similar Recipes:
Prosciutto Wrapped Halibut on Asparagus Sauce
Chicken Saltimbocca

Take a look at the Weekend Herb Blogging roundup at Küchenlatein.

Veal Scaloppine with Lemon Cream Sauce

Tonight was a night for cleaning out the fridge. I had some veal, cream, parsley and of course some lemons. I really liked the lemon and cream combination. I imagine that a lemon and cream sauce would work well on many dishes.

Now I am looking forward to filling up the fridge again. I have a meal plan and a grocery list and I will be heading out to the market tomorrow.

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon butter
1 serving veal scaloppine
* flour
salt and pepper
1 lemon (zest and juice)
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon parsley (chopped)

Directions:
1. Heat the butter and oil in a pan.
2. Dredge the veal in the flour and season with salt and pepper.
3. Brown both sides on the veal in the pan.
4. Remove the veal from the pan and set aside.
5. Pour the chicken stock into the pan.
6. Add the lemon zest and juice.
7. Scrape the bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.
8. Add the cream and reduce to the desired thickness.
9. Remove from heat and stir in the parsley.
10. Pour the sauce on the veal.

Similar Recipes:
Veal Scallopini with Sundried Tomato Sauce
Veal Scaloppine with Mushroom Marsala Sauce

Veal Scaloppine with Mushroom Marsala Sauce

When I was at the grocery store I saw some nice looking veal and picked it up. I tried chicken marsala a while ago and really liked it so I decided to do a veal marsala. I started with Marcella Hazan's recipe for "Veal Scaloppine with Marsala" and added mushrooms and fresh parsley. It was really tasty. The marsala sauce goes really well with veal.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter
4 ounces of mushrooms (sliced)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon butter
1 serving veal scaloppine
* flour
salt and pepper
1/2 cup dry marsala wine
1 tablespoon parsley (chopped)
1 tablespoon heavy cream (optional)

Directions:
1. Melt the butter in a pan.
2. Fry the mushrooms until they are golden brown and set aside.
3. Heat the butter and oil in a pan.
4. Dredge the veal in the flour.
5. Brown both sides on the veal in the pan.
6. Remove the veal from the pan and season with salt and pepper.
7. Pour the marsala into the pan.
8. Scrape the bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.
9. Add the mushrooms (and cream if you are using it) and simmer for a few minutes to reduce the sauce.
10. Remove from heat and stir in the parsley.
11. Pour the sauce on the veal.

Similar Recipes:
Veal Scallopini with Sundried Tomato Sauce
Veal Scaloppine with Lemon Cream Sauce