Ingredients
- 4 x 400-450g veal shanks
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 100ml extra virgin olive oil
- 2 medium/large white onions, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 anchovy fillets
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 1 leek, sliced
- 2 large sprigs thyme
- 2 large sprigs sage
- 1 large sprig rosemary
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 500g crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups veal stock
- For the gremolata:
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 4 tbsp finely chopped parsley
- 1 tbsp finely chopped lemon zest
- Enough extra virgin olive oil to moisten the mixture
Method
Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees. Season veal with salt and pepper. Heat half the olive oil in a large, oven-proof pot and brown veal shanks evenly on all sides. Veal should be well coloured but be careful not to burn it. Should take about 10 minutes.
Remove shanks from the pot and set aside. Add remaining olive oil to the same pot, then the diced onion, garlic, anchovies, carrot, celery, leek and herbs, and saute slowly for about 5 minutes or until soft. Turn up heat and then add the white wine to deglaze the pan. Cook until the wine is almost completely reduced before adding the tomatoes and veal stock.
Bring to the boil before lowering heat slightly and placing the veal pieces back in the pot. Slowly bring to a gentle simmer. Check for seasoning, then cover pot and place in oven.
To make gremolata while shanks are cooking, combine all ingredients and season to taste.
Check the shanks after 1½ hours. Cooking time will depend on their size but could take up to three hours. If more moisture is required, add a little more stock. The veal is cooked when the meat easily falls away from the bone.
When the veal is cooked, let it stand on the bench until shanks are cool enough to handle. Remove meat from the bone and put aside.
Reduce the cooking liquor on the stove until a sauce consistency is achieved, then return meat to the pot to warm through.
Serve veal with gremolata paste on top of some polenta or baked pumpkin gnocchi.
