Ossobuco, the traditional and starred recipe

The ossobuco recipe deserved a national day, which falls on November 19, six years ago, when the Italian Food blogger Association launched The Italian Food Calendar, in response to the most famous National Food Calender in the United States. It is the suckling veal shank (4 or 5 months), with a central bone rich in creamy marrow, cut into slices about three centimeters and cooked mainly in stews: in Rome they prepare it with peas, and tasty is also the widespread version with porcini mushrooms. But the recipe for ossobuco alla Milanese – with DE.CO (Municipal Denomination of Origin) since 2007 – is undoubtedly the most popular in the world. So much so that it is also on the menu in several excellent foreign restaurants such as the Mamma Mia in Boston, the Sinatra in Las Vegas, the Goodfellas in Shanghai or the Mancini family in Sao Paulo.

The history of ossobuco with yellow risotto

Loved by the Sforza and medieval knights, the Milanese ossobuco has such ancient origins that it is impossible to reconstruct its exact evolution. What is certain is that the first written testimony is not signed by the well-known gastronomic writer Pellegrino Artusi, as many claim, who spoke about it. Science in cooking and the art of eating good of 1981. As early as 1879, in fact, “the literate cook” Giuseppe Sorbiatti had revealed the secrets of the recipe in the volume (unobtainable) The Memorial of the Cook, or the way to prepare the Family Kitchen with the addition of different international food and drinks. It is, however, thanks to its written diffusion that the Milanese ossobuco had its moment of glory in the nineteenth century, becoming the dish par excellence of the Lombard bourgeoisie. For this reason, in addition to the traditional recipe, we asked the chef Alessandro Negrini of the Milanese restaurant Il Posto di Aimo and Nadia (two Michelin stars) to provide us with the new recipe of Ossobuco with yellow risotto presented this summer at Voce in Giardino (where the garden is that of the house where Alessandro Manzoni lived) as part of the menus inspired by the great Lombard writer. And to the cuisine of that period.

Ossobuco Milanese, the original recipe

Ingredients for 4 people: 4 veal marrowbones, 3 cm thick, 40 g of butter, 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 1 onion, 2 carrots, 1 stalk of celery, 1 clove of garlic, 1 glass of white wine, half a liter of vegetable broth, 400 g of peeled tomatoes, flour, thyme, salt and pepper to taste For the gremolata: 1 sprig of parsley, 1 clove of garlic, the zest of half an untreated lemon.

Procedure
cut the ossibuchi with a knife along the outer circumference to prevent them from curling during cooking and flour them. Chop onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Melt the butter in a pan with a little oil, add the ossobuchi and brown for about 3 or 4 minutes on each side. Remove the meat from the heat and brown the chopped vegetables in the same pan, stirring often. Put the ossobuchi back in the pot, add salt and pepper and after a couple of minutes deglaze with the wine. When it has evaporated, add the peeled tomatoes previously chopped with a fork, add the thyme and cover with a lid Cook over moderate heat, adding hot broth as needed, for about two and a half hours, until the meat is tender and the meat comes off from the bone. Meanwhile, prepare the “gremolata”, chopping the parsley, garlic and lemon zest, to add at the end of cooking. Finally: season with salt and pepper and serve with the saffron risotto

Ossobuco with yellow risotto, the recipe of chef Alessandro Negrini

Ingredients for 4 people: For the broth (for the marrowbones and the risotto): chicken wings 800 g, water 6 l, carrots 60 g, celery 25 g, golden onions 30 g, parsley (only the stems) 15 g, coarse salt 18 g, black peppercorns 8, bay leaf 1 small leaf. For the shanks: veal shanks (4 of 400 g each), golden onions 100 g, lio evo 80 g, white wine 50 ml, butter 30 g, buckwheat flour 8 g, rosemary 5 g. For the gremolata: 2 cloves garlic, 1 lemon zest, 10 g parsley, 20 g lio evo. For the risotto: 320 g Carnaroli rice, 50 g golden onions, 65 g butter, 45 g Grana Padano PDO, 50 ml white wine, 0.5 g saffron pistils, 200 ml water.