JILL BUCCO RECIPES

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 160C (140C fan-forced).

  2. Heat half the oil in a large frypan and cook the onion and celery for 10 minutes until softened. Add the carrot, garlic and rosemary, tossing well, cooking until they just start to brown. Add the stock and bring to the boil, stirring. Transfer to a large ovenproof, lidded casserole dish.

  3. Season the meat with salt and pepper, and toss in the flour until lightly coated. Heat remaining oil in the same frypan and fry the meat, in batches, for 3 minutes on each side until brown and crusty. Arrange the meat in one layer on top of the vegetables in the casserole dish.

  4. To deglaze the frypan, add the wine and bring it to the boil for 2 minutes, scraping any bits off the bottom with a wooden spoon (these bits add flavour). Add the tomato paste, anchovy, orange zest and chilli, stirring, then tip the lot into the casserole dish.

  5. Place a cartouche of baking paper on top of the meat (see tip), cover tightly and cook in the oven for 2-2½ hours, turning the meat over once halfway through, until it is tender and almost falling from the bone. Allow to cool (refrigerate if you have time).

  6. To serve, skim off any excess fat, then reheat. Scatter with parsley and serve with mashed potatoes, pasta or rice, and buttered kale, spinach or green beans.

  Tip: A cartouche will reduce evaporation and prevent a skin from forming. To make one, fold a sheet of baking paper in half, pierce it two or three times with the tip of a knife to allow air to escape, and trim it to fit on top of the meat inside the pot.

  • The golden rules of braising

Steps:

• Mix flour with sea salt and pepper, and roll veal shanks in it to coat. Heat two tablespoons oil in a large pot and brown shanks on all sides. Remove from pot, add remaining oil, and cook onion, celery, carrot and sliced garlic for 10 minutes until softened.

  Add wine and let it bubble and evaporate by half. Return shanks to pot, add tomatoes, tomato paste, anchovy fillets and stock and bring to just under the boil. Season well, cover and simmer for two hours or until meat is tender and falling off the bone.

  To serve, mix grated garlic, parsley, sea salt and lemon zest to make a gremolata. Scatter osso buco with gremolata and serve with mashed potato, soft polenta or saffron risotto.

  Tip: If ossobuco is too liquid, the author of The Cook's Companion, Stephanie Alexander, says, remove the lid and increase heat for five to 10 minutes.

  This is one of Jill Dupleix's 10 recipes everyone should master.