Ingredients
For the braised veal sauce
1kg veal osso bucco
1 large onion, peeled and quartered
2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
2 sticks celery, chunked
1 leek, cut into chunks
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 jar tomato passata (or two tins diced Italian tomatoes)
1 glass white wine
water
salt and pepper
olive oil for frying
For the gnocchi
1kg floury potatoes
2 egg yolks
100g (2/3 cup) plain flour
Method
Throw the onion, carrots, celery, leek and garlic into a food processor. Pulse until all the ingredients are finely chopped. Preheat a casserole dish over medium heat, add some olive oil and then the vegetables. Sweat for 6-8 minutes until softened and fragrant. Meanwhile preheat your oven to 160°C.
Nestle the osso bucco pieces amongst the softened vegetables then pour over the wine and the tomato passata, topping up with extra water to bring the liquid to just covering the meat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover with a lid and bake for 2 and a half hours until the sauce is thick and the meat falls off the bone. At this stage you should be able to easily slip the bones away from the meat and shred into bite sized pieces.
For the gnocchi, place whole potatoes on a tray and bake at 180°C for about an hour, until cooked through.
Remove from the oven and let them cool slightly so that you can handle them more easily. Peel the skins and either mash or put through a potato ricer (if you have one), directly on your clean kitchen bench.
Make a well in the centre of your potatoes and add the egg yolks. Sift the flour over the potatoes then using your hands bring the eggs, potatoes and flour together. The trick for light and fluffy gnocchi is to use less flour and keep a light touch with your hands. Don’t overwork them.
Divide the dough into four and roll into long ropes. Line up the ropes and cut into little pillow shapes.
Bring a large pot of water to the boil then season with plenty of salt. Gently drop in the gnocchi. They will rise to the surface when they are cooked. Use a slotted spoon to retrieve the cooked gnocchi. You can pop them straight into the sauce or plunge them into cold water if you need to keep them for later.
To serve heat up the sauce. Gently fold in the gnocchi. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and fresh parsley.
Kristy is a mother of three who loves feeding her family wholesome, nutritious and above all delicious food. She has her own food blog called The Life She Made where she posts family style recipes and talks about life as a stay at home mother.
