Ingredients
¼ cup olive oil
2kg veal shin, cut crosswise into 5 cm slices
100g butter
4 anchovies
10 garlic cloves, crushed
2 onions, diced
1 carrot, sliced
2 sticks celery, sliced
200g olives, pitted
50g capers
2 bay leaves
1 cup red wine
1 cup port
1 litre tomato passata
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup basil leaves
Gremolata (optional):
zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1½ garlic clove, finely chopped
(optional)
Method
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C.
Heat the oil in a heavy-based casserole dish and brown the veal pieces. Transfer the browned veal to a plate and keep warm.
Add the butter to the casserole and when it starts to sizzle add the anchovies, garlic and onion. Sauté over a medium heat until the anchovies begin to melt. Add the carrot and celery and sweat for about 5 min until they begin to soften. Add the olives, capers and bay leaves to the casserole then pour in the wine, port and tomato passata. Season with salt and pepper and stir in half the basil leaves.
Bring to the boil then lower the temperature to a simmer. Cover the casserole and transfer to the oven for 1½ hours, or until the meat is meltingly tender. Check the casserole from time to make sure that the meat is always covered with sauce.
Once the veal is cooked, remove the casserole from the oven. If the sauce is too thin, remove the lid from the casserole and boil vigorously on the stovetop for 5 – 10 min until reduced.
Mix together the gremolata ingredients and scatter onto the osso buco just before serving.