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Special Ingredients:

Liokareas Late Harvest Lemon Olive Oil

Special Equipment:

Le Creuset enameled cast iron dutch oven

Ingredients:

For the Osso Buco

2-4 shanks of lamb, beef, goat, veal, venison, or elk

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup olive oil (the lemon-infused for this part of the recipe)

2 yellow onions

3 carrots

4 stalks of celery

8oz fresh mushrooms or 1/2-1oz dried mushrooms

1 cup of dry white wine

1 cup chicken stock

1 can of crushed tomatoes (28oz)

1 can of tomato paste

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon dried oregano

For the gremolata

Zest of 2 lemons

1/2 cup chopped parsley

3-4 cloves of garlic

For the risotto

1.5 cups arborio rice

4 cups chicken stock

1 cup white wine

4 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons olive oil (use a "plain" olive oil for this)

Dredge the meat shanks in flour and brown them in the lemon oil for approximately 3 minutes per surface. Move them to a plate to wait until they are needed later. In the oil and fond, cook the chopped onion, carrot, and celery until the onion is translucent.

Add the wine and chicken stock to the vegetables and bring to a lively simmer. Add the dry herbs, and then the crushed tomatoes and tomato paste. Add the chopped mushrooms and stir until everything is evenly-incorporated. Salt and pepper to taste. Turn off the heat to avoid splattering.

Nestle the meat shanks in the sauce. Cover and put into a 300º oven for 3 hours.

Prep the gremolata by zesting 2 lemons, chopping 1/2 cup of parsley, and chopping the garlic cloves. You can keep this in a bowl in the fridge until it's time to serve.

Once the 3 hours has passed, remove the dutch oven from the oven and leave it covered to rest. We'll let that hang out for the time it takes to make the risotto.

For the risotto, melt the butter in a large pan on medium-high heat. Add the arborio rice and toss so that each grain is coated in butter. Let it bubble and simmer for a while until the rice starts to become translucent. Drizzle in the olive oil and toss the rice. Add the cup of white wine and start working the pan back and forth, keeping the rice moving as a unified mass. At the same time, have the chicken stock simmering on medium heat in a separate pan. When the white is absorbed, ladle in 1 cup of stock and continue tossing the rice until the stock has been absorbed, then add another ladle. Continue doing this until all the stock has been added and absorbed. The constant motion and slow addition of hot stock will cause the risotto to have a creamy texture. If the grains are still too crunchy at this point, you can add a half cup of hot water and continue tossing until it's pleasantly al dente. Once you've achieved a texture that is satisfying, turn off the heat. Add a cup of grated parmesan cheese and stir to incorporate evenly into the risotto.

To serve, create a bed of risotto, on top of which you rest a shank, standing as upright as possible. Spoon additional sauce around the base of the shank and garnish with the gremolata. This would pair well with a rustic, crusty bread, a light salad of arugula and an acidic dressing, and a mild red wine like pinot noir. The meat should be fork tender and pull easily from the bone. The sauce should be out of this world good with all the flavors bound up in the rendered marrow.