FOODIE FRIDAY RECIPE - OSSO BUCCO

Osso Bucco is a wonderful, melt in your mouth, braised shank in the traditional Milanese style.  Literally, Osso Bucco means "bone with a hole" because these are marrow bones.  I cook mine in my slow cooker for simplicity but you can certainly cook yours in a heavy pot in the oven.  Traditionally served over risotto, I like mine with pasta.  It is also tradition to use veal shank but you can easily use beef or pork.  When I'm cooking for a casual dinner I use beef because of the price.  Veal shank can be very pricey and pork shank is difficult to find unless you have a good butcher.

Ingredients:

4 veal shanks

1 medium white onion, diced

1/2 cup grated carrot

2 stalks celery, diced

3 tablespoons dried parsley flakes

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1 teaspoon dried thyme

8 ounces beef or veal stock

16 ounces canned crushed tomatoes

2 tablespoons tomato paste

6 small cloves garlic, minced

1 cup good white wine

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup flour for dredging

Method:

Heat butter and oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat.  

While the oil is heating, combine flour and 1 teaspoon of the salt in a bowl and dredge the meat in the flour.  

Lightly brown the meat on both sides and place the browned meat in the slow cooker. 

Add the vegetables to the skillet and cook to soften, stirring frequently.  Add spices and tomato paste and stir.  Add the wine and pour over the meat.

Add the tomatoes and the stock.

Cover and cook on medium for 5 hours.  The meat will be "fall of the bone" tender.  Carefully ladle the meat to a platter.  Use the sauce over your favorite pasta or rice.

FOODIE FRIDAY RECIPE - ITALIAN VEGETABLE STEW

GIAMBOTTA

[Italian Vegetable Stew]

Late in summer when local vegetables are abundant and gardeners are begging their friends to relieve them of some of their zucchini, tomatoes and string beans, it's time for Aunt Gloria's hearty giambotta.  You can get the necessary vegetables year round now but nothing compares to local garden-fresh.  This peasant dish is a close relative to the French ratatouille but less condensed and minus the eggplant.  This is a flexible dish so feel free to adapt to taste.  Aunt Gloria always put potatoes in her stew and served it as a side dish.  I generally omit the potatoes and serve the stew over pasta as a main course.  Either way, you can't miss.

Ingredients:

4 cups diced ripe tomatoes

[or canned crushed tomatoes]
2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 cups large-diced zucchini

1/2 cup diced celery

3/4 cup diced carrots

1 diced bell pepper

1 minced clove garlic

2 diced medium onions

1 pound string beans

4 large potatoes, peeled and diced [optional]

3 cups water or chicken stock

1 tablespoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon dried oregano

6 to 8 fresh basil leaves

3 tablespoons olive oil

3/4 cup good red wine

Method:

Preheat oven to 330*.

Clean and prep all the vegetables.  I find it helpful to scrape some of the skin from the zucchini with a serrated knife before cutting.  Heat the oil in a heavy Dutch Oven and lightly brown the onions, celery, carrots and pepper.  After a few minutes add the garlic and remove from heat.  Add all the remaining ingredients, cover and return to medium heat to bring to a simmer.  

Give the stew a quick stir and then move it from stovetop to preheated oven.  Let it cook in the oven for 2 or even 3 hours.  The stew is done when all the vegetables are soft to the fork.

Serve over prepared farfalle or orecchiette pasta and enjoy with a loaf of really great peasant Italian bread!

FRIDAY NIGHT MEANS FAMILY NIGHT

As long as I can remember Friday nights have always been family night. When I was young it wasn't uncommon for 10 or more extended family members to join us at the kitchen table. My mother's sister Gloria [who lived with mom and me] would put on a feast. More friends and family would usually drop in later for coffee, dessert, gossip and nostalgia.

I loved Friday nights. The house was filled with love and fun and cousins to play with. The aroma of tomato sauce was inescapable. When you were there you knew you belonged. That's where and when I developed my loving relationship with food and cooking. I watched Gloria cook. I pitched in. I saw the look on everyone's faces as the food was being served.

Family night was always a deleted scene from MOONSTRUCK

Sure there was love and food and fun and strong ties to the past but don't think it was all smooth and congenial. Italian families, my family, don't work that way. Along with the niceties were the arguments, temperaments, gossip and scandals. No quiet bunch, this Clemente-Lanni clan!

And then there was the humor

Larger-than-life personalities seems to be genetic. When uncle George [Orlando] and his wife were in the house you knew there were going to be laughs. As a kid I had to miss a great deal of George's humor because I was sent out of the room with the other kids. I could hear the laughter coming from the kitchen and I sorely wanted to be in with the "grow-ups". George had colorful language. This was long before political correctness. George was our very own Richard Pryor or Red Foxx. There's a lot of George in me, at least my sense of humor.

Times change and family shrinks

Family members have fallen by the wayside and my generation is spread all over the place with kids of their own but I have continued the Friday family tradition. Sure most weeks there are only 4 or 5 of us but I cook family favorites and we sit around the table and yell and argue and reminisce.

Tonight's menu:

Pasta Fagioli [we say pasta "fazool"] *

Breaded chicken cutlet

Salad

Italian cheesecake

*recipe to follow