Marrow, Wine and Patience
Osso buco is traditionally veal, but elk shank is arguably better suited to it — leaner, more deeply flavoured, and with a marrow-filled bone that enriches the sauce as it cooks. The gremolata is not a garnish you can skip: raw lemon zest and parsley scattered over at the last second are what stop three hours of braising from tasting heavy.
Ingredients
Serves 4 | Cost: $8.75 per serving | Total: $35.00 | Ready in 60 min
- 4 cross-cut elk shanks, about 300 g (10½ oz) each
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 250 ml (1 cup) dry white wine
- 500 ml (2 cups) beef bone broth
- 400 g (14 oz) tinned crushed tomatoes
- 3 carrots, finely diced
- 3 celery stalks, finely diced
- 2 bay leaves
- Zest of 2 lemons and a large handful of parsley, chopped, for the gremolata
- Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Brown the shanks. Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F). Season the shanks heavily. Heat the olive oil in a heavy casserole over high heat and brown them for 4 minutes per side until a dark crust forms. Set aside.
- Soften the vegetables. Reduce the heat to medium and add the diced carrot and celery with a pinch of salt. Cook for 8 minutes, stirring, until softened and just beginning to colour at the edges.
- Deglaze. Pour in the white wine and bring to a vigorous simmer, scraping the base of the pot clean. Let it reduce by half, which will take about 4 minutes and drive off the harsh alcohol.
- Braise. Add the crushed tomatoes, bone broth and bay leaves, then nestle the shanks back in so they are almost submerged. Cover and braise in the oven for 3 hours, until the meat is falling from the bone.
- Make the gremolata and serve. Combine the lemon zest and chopped parsley. Serve each shank in a shallow bowl with plenty of the braising sauce, and scatter the gremolata over just before it reaches the table.
Nutritional & Dietary Notes
Dairy-Free
There is no milk, cream, butter or cheese in this recipe. Richness comes from the meat, the cooking fat and the aromatics rather than from dairy, which makes it a comfortable choice for anyone who is lactose intolerant or avoiding dairy altogether.
Gluten-Free
Every ingredient in this recipe is naturally free from wheat, barley and rye. If you are cooking for someone with coeliac disease, double-check any stock, sauce or spice blend you buy in, as gluten-containing thickeners and malt derivatives are common hidden additions in commercial products.
Paleo
This recipe sticks to whole, unprocessed ingredients: quality meat, vegetables, herbs, natural fats and spices. There are no grains, legumes, refined sugars or industrial seed oils, so it fits cleanly within a paleo framework.
Featured HOTRO.ca Product
This recipe is built around Elk Shank from HOTRO.ca. We source premium BC-raised and ethically farmed meats and slow-simmered bone broth, so the quality of the core ingredient does most of the work for you. Substituting a lesser product will change the result more than any other single change you could make to this recipe.
Cross-cut elk shanks braised low in white wine and bone broth with a fresh gremolata.