Osso buco - with a touch of orange

Yummy, yummy osso buco! I'm always very open to temptation when I go shopping. I can reframe that easily into meaning that I cook things seasonally and like trying new things. On Monday I went shopping and saw lots of osso buco in the meat section of Piedimonte's. I hadn't cooked osso buco for ages and thought it a great idea for a cold, wet week here in Melbourne.



I thought I had all the basic ingredients: osso buco, tomatoes, red wine. But I found when I checked out a few recipes that that I had forgotten the gremolata and didn't have any parsley. This meant I had to be a bit more creative about the recipe. So I looked at some of my Greek stifado recipes and finally got inspiration from the use of lemon and pickling spices in some of the recipes I had been reading.



I would try a new flavour by adding some of my Stephanie's Spiced oranges and the spicy liquid! I also cooked the dish over two days for a minumum of 2.5 hours and added some carrot and parsnip in the last half hour of cooking. This recipe is definitely not your traditional Italian osso buco apart from the meat used, but it is delicious. Tomato and orange and carrot go so well together, and the little taste of orange that comes through is a lovely taste sensation!

Ingredients

4 pieces of osso buco
Plain flour
Olive oil
Pepper
2 onions
5 cloves of garlic crushed
1 can diced tomatoes
4 quarters spiced orange
2 dsp Spiced orange liquid
Glass red wine
2 cups water (or more if needed)
1 carrot
1 parsnip

Mode

Heat oil in stovetop pan or casserole which will be large enough to contain all ingredients
Pepper some plain flour
Coat osso buco lightly in flour
Seal in olive oil and remove from pan
Cook roughly chopped onion and garlic until tender
Add red wine to sear pan
Return meat to pan and stir
Add canned tomatoes
Chop the spiced orange and add spiced orage and liquid to pan
Add water to cover all ingredients
Bring to boil and simmer over low heat for about 2 hours checking regularly that meat doesn't stick and adding more water if needed
About half an hour before serving peel and slice the carrot and parsnip
Add vegetables to pan and stir to integrate
Cook for another half hour
Serve with mashed potatoes

I cooked this over two days, about an hour the first night and then 1.5 hours the next day. The flavours intensify and the taste improves over a couple of days!