Ingredients

• 6 Beef Osso Buco
• 2 Brown Onions
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• 5 Celery Sticks
• 2 Carrots
• 400g Brown or Field Mushrooms
• 1 Tin Diced Italian Tomato
• 1 Bottle Italian Tomato Passata
• 2 Tbs Olive Oil
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 15g Oregano
• 10g Sage
• 250ml (1 Cup) Red Wine
• 1 Tbs Beef Stock
• Salt and cracked pepper

For Serving:
• 2 Cups Polenta
• Butter
• 16g flat leaf parsley
• 1 Garlic Clove
• 1 Lemon
• Optional: Brussel Sprouts, Broccoli, Potatoes

Instructions

1. Finely dice your garlic cloves, your brown onions, carrots & celery sticks & set aside. Thinly slice your mushrooms.

2. Wash your bay leaves if fresh & your sage & oregano. Using a paper towel, pat your osso buco steaks dry and season well with salt and pepper.

Gremolata Prep:

3. Prep your Gremolata (a delicious zesty topping that you sprinkle on at the end) by finely zesting your lemon.

4. Dice your one remaining garlic clove (or grating) & finely dice your parsley leaves. Mix to combine, cover and pop back in the fridge ready for serving

Continued from second instructions

5. Pop a large roaster on your stovetop, pour in your olive oil & heat until hot. Nestle in your osso buco steaks & bring to sizzling. This sears the meat & renders off the fat beautifully, cook both sides until golden.

6. Take out your browned meat & set aside. Leave the tray on the heat with the rendered fat from the meat still in there & pour in your rainbow diced veg - (garlic, onion, celery, mushrooms & carrot) & cook, stirring frequently, until lightly golden, your onion is translucent.

7. Tip in your tinned tomatoes & bottle of passata. Fill both containers to half full with water to get all the tomato out of the containers and pour it all into the tray. This adds the necessary liquid to slow cook for the next three hours. Tip in your cup of red wine.

8. Add in your beef stock, your bay leaves, sage & oregano and gently stir through to combine everything.

9. Nestle the browned osso buco back into your tray, cover the tray with foil & pop into your oven to gently simmer undisturbed for an hour.

10. Check after an hour how the liquid to meat/veg ratio is looking - you want it to be reducing to a lovely thick sauce, but not dry out too much so the meat continues to cook until tender and falling apart. If needed; add in half a cup of water and half a cup of wine. Pop the tray back in the oven for another 2 hours, checking occasionally to make sure the liquid to meat/veg ratio is looking ok - add water/wine as required.

11. Once the meat is falling off the bone/comes apart easily when poked with a fork, it is ready. Sprinkle over your zesty gremolata topping & serve in the roaster at the table!

To serve:

Given the saucy factor of this dish, serve with either buttery polenta (the traditional accompaniment), fluffy mashed potatoes (a very Australian accompaniment) & warm crusty bread (just a good idea in general) with lashings of butter.

PolentaBring 6 cups of water to the boil and once bubbling whisk in your polenta. Gently mix until thick and creamy, then drop in a generous knob of butter & season to taste. Parmesan is also sensational grated through the polenta before serving.

Mashed Potatoes Fill a large pot with cold water & add in chopped potatoes. Bring to the boil & cook until potatoes can be easily pierced by a fork, then drain the potatoes reserving 1 cup of liquid. Add in a good knob of butter, season to taste & start mashing! Use the reserved liquid to slowly add. Again parmesan is also sensational grated through/on top.

Greens Either 2 bunches of Broccolini or 600g of Brussel sprouts halved would be great as a side dish. Simply microwave with a dash of water on high for 2 min or until softened.. Squeeze over your zested lemon before serving.