International Day of Italian Cuisines: Ossobuco in Gremolata alla Milanese

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The Virtual Group of Italian Chefs celebrates its 5th Annual International Day of Italian Cuisines today as hundreds of chefs in over 40 countries around the world prepare and serve Ossobuco in Gremolata using an authentic recipe.

Click on map to see participating chefs (continuously updated)

The Blonde Bear Tavern is joining the celebration, and you can, too.  Learn the history of this centuries-old iconic dish, along with an in-depth look at the optimal ingredients and their correct proportion, as we reveal our famed recipe here.

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Ricette Classiche: Ossobuco in Gremolata alla Milanese

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Italians are masters of braising meats, and ossobuco is a perfect example. Take a relatively cheap cut of meat with lots of connective tissue,  Braise it until the tough tissues melt, coating the meat fibers, rendering them soft and silky.  As with Brasato, the meat will develop a velvety texture and delicious, earthy flavor, but with the added luxury of unctuous bone marrow.

Ossobuco is a centuries-old Lombard recipe of cross-cut veal shanks braised with vegetables, white wine, and broth.  It is typically garnished with gremolata, a combination of lemon zest, parsley, and garlic.  The most traditional accompaniments to the dish are risotto alla milanese, polenta, or mashed potatoes.

The dish is famous world-wide, and its recipe has been published extensively outside of Italy.  It was featured in Henri-Paul Pellaprat’s famous L’Art Culinaire Moderne, published in France in 1935, and the British Italian Food, by Elizabeth David, first published in 1954.  The dish has become a part of the French home cooking tradition, known as ossobucco à la milanaise (with added butter (!)

Every January 17th — for the last five years — the Virtual Group of Italian Chefs (GVCI) promotes one authentic Italian recipe on its International Day of Italian Cuisines (IDIC).  We were honored to participate the last two years with a couple of Bellavitae signature dishes:  Tagliatelle al Ragù Bolognese, and Pesto Genovese.  The previous years featured Pasta alla Carbonara and Risotto alla Milanese.

The International Day of Italian Cuisines is born from a mission, as explained by Rosario Scarpato, GVCI Honorary President and last year’s IDIC Director:

“We certainly aim at educating worldwide consumers, but more than anything else, we want to protect their right to get what they pay for when going to eateries labeled as ‘Italian’; that is, authentic and quality Italian cuisine.”

So in celebratory spirit we participate again this year, right here at The Blonde Bear Tavern.  Ossobuco is a perfect entree after skiing all day.  Come join us this Tuesday, January 17th, for our preparation of ossobuco.

 

 Lombardy – Birthplace of Ossobuco

Bellagio, on the shores of Lake Como.

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Ossobuco traces its beginnings to Lombardy (“Lombardia” in Italian), and many believe to Milan, although there is some controversy about that.  Lombardy is a large region in the north of Italy.  The river Po forms a natural boundary in the south, the Alps to the north, with Lakes Garda on the east and Maggiore and Como on the West.

Click to enlarge

The regional cuisine of Lombardy is based upon ingredients like maize, rice, beef, pork, butter, and lard.  Despite being a form of Italian cuisine, Lombard food tends to have little in common with Central or Southern Italian dishes, in many cases lacking the presence of tomato and olive oil, being more meat-based and buttery.  In many ways, Lombard cuisine has much in common with that of Austria and much of central Europe in general.

But as Italian cuisine, Lombard food is full of variety and every city and part of the region offers its own specialties.  A characteristic Lombard dish is risotto, most famously risotto alla milanese (which is made with saffron), with rice-based food being highly common throughout the region.  Similar to risotto, maize-based dishes such as polenta are also common.  Other famous Lombard dishes include cotoletta, cassoeula, and of course ossobuco.  The region also offers several delicacies and desserts, including mostarda and panettone.  Regional cheeses include Robiola, Crescenza, Taleggio, Gorgonzola and Grana Padano.

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What to drink with Ossobuco

Which wines pair well with Ossobuco?  Ask the expert, Luca Gardini, named the world’s best sommelier last year.  His recommendations are here.

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The History of Ossobuco

The word ossobuco (“oss bus” in Milanese dialect) means “bone with a hole” (osso bone, buco hole), a reference to the marrow hole at the center of the cross-cut veal shank.

Milan claims to be the birth city of ossobuco and in 2007, the City Council declared it as part of the De.Co. (Denominazioni Comunali or community denominations), which is an official public acknowledgement that a dish belongs to a certain territory.

The use of marrow bones and veal shanks was common in Middle Age Italian cuisine, but there is no evidence of the presence of ossobuco as a dish at that time.  The recipe is believed to have first appeared in Pellegrino Artusi’s cookbook La Scienza in Cucina e l’Arte di Mangiar Bene (The Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well), the first collection of Italian national cuisine ever published.  The book celebrates both home cooking and well-known dishes from all over Italy.  These dishes were well-established, indicating the dish had been around for decades, most likely originating in one of the region’s osterie or trattorie.

 The Ingredients (for six servings)

For the Ossobuco:

  • 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 6 veal shanks, cut 1 ½ inches thick, patted dry and tied tightly around the middle
  • Salt and freshly-ground black pepper
  • 2 ½ cups dry white wine
  • 2 medium onions, cut into ½-inch pieces
  • 2 medium carrots, cut into ½-inch pieces
  • 2 medium celery ribs, cut into ½-inch pieces
  • 2 cups veal or low-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 Bay leaves
  • 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
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For the Gremolata:
  • ¼ cup minced fresh parsley leaves
  • 2 teaspoons garlic cloves, chopped very, very fine
  • 2 teaspoons grated minced lemon zest
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A note on the ingredients:
  • The best ossobuco is made from the meatier hind leg, so ask your butcher for this cut.
  • Have the shanks cut no thicker than 1 ½ inches.  Thicker cuts may look impressive, but need to cook longer and slower, otherwise it will end up being stringy and chewy.
  • The shanks are better with the skin left on, which helps to keep the ossobuco together while it cooks.  Moreover, the creamy consistency of the skin adds a fabulous mouth-feel and flavor to the final dish.
  • Veal  broth (not stock) is preferable in this dish, but if it’s unavailable, use chicken broth.  Beef broth is not optimal here, but you can use a mixture of half beef and half chicken broth.
  • Using stock in this recipe (instead of broth) will create disappointing results.  Broth is subtler, and will produce an optimum flavor profile.  Frankly, stock is never used in Italian cooking; if used in this recipe (with the shank’s bone marrow) will put the dish, well, over the top.
  • Sometime during the 1960s or ’70s, cooks began dredging the shanks in flour before browning.  I don’t particularly like this method, and find that the elimination of the technique produces a better flavor.  But it’s still authentic to do so.
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Preparing Ossobuco

Preheat the oven to 325°F and adjust the rack to the lower middle portion, so the Dutch oven will rest in the middle of the oven.

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat.  Season both sides of the veal shanks with salt and pepper
  2. Place 3 of the shanks in the pan and cook until they are golden on one side, about 6 minutes.  Guild the other side of the shanks, about 6 minutes longer.
  3. Remove shanks from Dutch oven and place in a bowl.  Off heat, add ½ cup of the white wine to the Dutch oven, scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon.  Pour the liquid into the bowl of shanks.
  4. Return the Dutch oven to medium heat and repeat the process with the remaining 3 shanks, guilding both sides in the same amount of olive oil and butter, then placing them with the original 3 shanks.  De-glaze the Dutch oven again using 1 more cup of white wine.  Pour the liquid over the six shanks.
  5. Return the Dutch oven to medium heat and add the remaining olive oil and butter.  Saute the onion until translucent.  Then add the celery and Bay leaf and cook for an additional 3 to 5 minutes.  Finally, add the carrot and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  6. Increase the heat to high and add the broth and remaining 1 cup of wine. Add the tomatoes.  Return the veal shanks to the pot, arranging in a single, tight layer.   Ensure the open end (or larger opening) of each bone is facing up so the marrow doesn’t fall out during braising.  The liquid should just cover the shanks – if not, add more broth.  If there is too much liquid, remove some with a spoon.
  7. Bring the liquid to a simmer, then cover the pot and transfer it to the oven.   Cook the shanks until the meat is easily pierced with a fork, but not falling off the bone, about 2 hours.
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Preparing the Gremolata
  1. Combine the parsley, garlic, and lemon zest.
  2. Stir half of the gremolata in the pot, reserving the balance for garnish.  Let the ossobuco stand for 5 minutes, uncovered.

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Assembling the Dish
  1. Remove the shanks from the pot, remove the twine, and place each shank in a bowl, perhaps over polenta.
  2. Ladle some braising liquid over each shank, and sprinkle the gremolata over each serving.

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Further Reading:

 

Ossobuco, the perfect winter dish, most satisfying after a vigorous run down the mountain.  Too tired to make it yourself?  Join us and hundreds of other chefs around the world on January 17th.  Enjoy this famous dish, evolved over centuries, right here at The Blonde Bear Tavern.

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Ricette Classiche: Lasagne Verdi al Forno

Baked Spinach Lasagne with Meat Sauce in the style of Bologna

Italy’s most famous baked pasta is lasagne!  Historians have traced the dish back to at least Roman times, believing its name derives from the Latin lasania [cooking pot], and possibly to ancient Greece.

Lasagne has been widely adopted throughout Italy, with each region placing its own imprimatur on the dish.  In Bologna, lasagne is made with fresh spinach pasta and layered with classic ragù alla Bolognese.  In Liguria, lasagne is made with pesto (although sometimes the boiled pasta sheets are simply tossed with pesto [Genoa’s mandilli de sæa al pesto]).  Neapolitans layer tomato sauce and mozzarella between the pasta sheets, and Calabrians prefer ricotta salata. In Piedmont, I’ve had lasagne with mushrooms and ham; and lasagne with artichokes is, well, sublime.

This dish takes quite a bit of time to prepare, but in our view it’s worth the effort.  You can make the ragù alla Bolognese ahead of time.  Also, once fully assembled, you can hold lasagne verdi al forno in the refrigerator for two full days if tightly sealed with plastic wrap.  Just allow it to return to room temperature before baking.

Continue reading “Ricette Classiche: Lasagne Verdi al Forno”

Ricette Classiche: Ragù alla Bolognese

 

Tagliatelle al Ragù alla Bolognese [Fresh Egg Pasta Ribbons with Meat Sauce in the style of Bologna] was our most popular pasta dish at Bellavitae.  It appeared on the menu when we opened the brick oven every autumn, and lasted into the cold winter months when the oven’s open fire was roaring to keep everything in the restaurant toasty.  There is nothing more satisfying in the dead of winter than a comforting bowl of homemade egg pasta with beef ragù.

Ragù alla Bolognese is a centuries-old recipe, where beef is combined with a perfect balance of chopped vegetables and left to sputter for hours over low heat, rendering it succulent and deeply flavored.  I know of nothing that so easily warms the soul.

This ragù is very easy to make; the only challenge is that of time.  It freezes beautifully or you can hold it in the refrigerator for at least three days.  Ours is a most authentic recipe and once you try it you’ll understand why any imitation or variation (some say bastardization) is simply not acceptable – and why the original became so famous.

Continue reading “Ricette Classiche: Ragù alla Bolognese”

Pasta Verde: Making Your Own Spinach Pasta

Once you’ve learned to make your own fresh egg pasta, it’s a breeze to make Italy’s most famous flavored pasta – spinach pasta [pasta verde].

Pasta verde can be used for tortellini, for pastas with sauces containing earthy mushrooms, and of course for Lasagne Verdi al Forno [Baked Spinach Lasagne in the style of Bologna].  You can make it with either fresh or frozen spinach — and the results surprisingly similar.  Here’s how:

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International Day of Italian Cuisines: Pesto Genovese

The Virtual Group of Italian Chefs celebrates its 4th Annual International Day of Italian Cuisines today as hundreds of chefs in over 40 countries around the world prepare and serve Pesto Genovese with pasta using an authentic recipe.

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Click on map to see participating chefs

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Bellavitae is joining the celebration, and you can, too.  Learn the history of this centuries-old iconic dish, along with an in-depth look at the optimal ingredients and their correct proportion, as we reveal our famed recipe here.

Photo courtesy Regional Agency for the Promotion of Tourism in Liguria

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Related:  Ricette Classice –  Pesto Genovese

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Ricette Classiche: Pesto Genovese

Photo courtesy Regional Agency for the Promotion of Tourism in Liguria

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Pesto Genovese was one of our most popular signature dishes at Bellavitae.  People would travel across town just to experience this simple yet sublime celebration of Italy’s most seductive herb – basil.  Guests would frequently ask for the dish in the dead of winter!  Of course we would explain that they would need to wait until summer – when basil was at the height of its season – to enjoy the delectable sauce.

Pesto is a centuries-old recipe, where Mediterranean-grown basil is combined with a hint of delicate mountain-grown Vessalico garlic, to which is added Italy’s two most famous aged cheeses – Parmigiano-Reggiano and Pecorino.  Add some Italian pine nuts [pinoli] and the cleanest, sweetest sea salt from Cervia.  Trickle in the fruitiest, most sublime Taggiasca olive oil and presto! – Pesto Genovese.

So why are we talking about this summer dish in, well, the dead of winter?

Every January 17th — for the last four years — the Virtual Group of Italian Chefs (GVCI) promotes one authentic Italian recipe on its International Day of Italian Cuisines (IDIC).  We were honored to participate last year with Tagliatelle al Ragù Bolognese, another Bellavitae signature dish.  The previous years featured Pasta alla Carbonara and Risotto alla Milanese.  This year, of course, it’s Pesto Genovese.

The International Day of Italian Cuisines is born from a mission, as explained by Rosario Scarpato, GVCI Honorary President and IDIC 2011 Director:

“We certainly aim at educating worldwide consumers, but more than anything else, we want to protect their right to get what they pay for when going to eateries labeled as ‘Italian’; that is, authentic and quality Italian cuisine.”

So in celebratory spirit we again participate this year.  The weather outside may be cold, but think of the following as a virtual culinary vacation to the Italian Riviera.  Bookmark this page and return to it during the summer when basil is in full season.  Follow the detailed recipe within and discover why Pesto Genovese has remained one of Italy’s most famous dishes.

Continue reading “Ricette Classiche: Pesto Genovese”

Ricette Classiche: Brasato al Barolo

As autumn submits to winter, the frigid air outside suggests the perfect meal for a Sunday evening gathering – Brasato al Barolo.  Beef braises in the oven for hours, lazily simmering in red wine, and produces an aroma like no other.  It permeates the house with reminders of Piedmont, the magical alcove surrounded by an arc of the majestic snow-capped Alps.

Braising is a centuries-old but ingenious method of cooking that transforms a less desirable cut of meat into a succulent and flavorful delicacy that does wonders to warm the soul on a cold winter’s night.  In The French Laundry Cookbook, Thomas Keller says this about braising:

“When you’ve pulled your pot from the oven to regard your braise, to really see it, to smell it, you’ve connected yourself to generations and generations of people who have done the same thing for hundreds of years in exactly the same way.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Every major cuisine seems to have its method of braising meat in liquid; the French have Pièce de Boeuf Braisée / Boeuf à la Mode, in America we have Yankee Pot Roast, and in Italy it’s Brasato.  The Italian word is a derivative of brace, meaning “hot coals”.  In the past a heavy pot was buried in glowing coals where the meat would simmer for hours, with more embers placed upon the concave lid.

In Italy braising is used extensively – for a piece of meat or game, sometimes fish or fowl – the most common being beef.  It can be marinated beforehand, sometimes with herbs, spices, and/or vegetables.  Typically the meat is first browned (gilded) in fat or oil before simmering in liquid for three to five hours.  In Lombardy they add cinnamon, cloves, and bay leaves.  In Liguria they use dried mushrooms, some ham, and a mixture of wine and beef broth – and sometimes they substitute pork for beef.  In Piedmont, the classic recipe is Brasato al Barolo [braise of Barolo wine].

What gives brasato its delicious flavor and tenderness are two components in the roast one doesn’t usually associate with quality meat:  fat and sinew (connective tissue).  When these parts of the roast are heated to 150° they begin to melt, losing their toughness and dissolve into the muscle fibers, creating a velvety texture and delicious earthy flavor – a process that dry heat is unable to effectively achieve.

Continue reading “Ricette Classiche: Brasato al Barolo”