Sunday dinner – Ossobucco in 30 minutes

Ossobucco with king boletes risotto, creamy spinach and 3-weeks-old olive oil

For two (moderately hungry) persons you need:
1 ossobucco (veal shanks) of 300 g
2 carrots
1 onion
1 small celery root
2 garlic cloves
1 lemon (for making zest)
3 table spoons of extravirgin olive oil
1 dl white wine
3 tablespoons of flour
for bouquet garni:
thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, 1 celery stem with leaves, 2-3 parsley branches

Cut carrots and celery root in small cubes. Slice and finely chop onions and garlic. Take the pressure cooker and slowly heat the olive oil in it. In the meantime, rinse the steak in cold water, pat it dry with paper towels, add some salt and pepper and finally flour both sides. Fry each side of the ossobucco until they get a brownish color.

Set the meat aside, add onions, carrot and celery root cubes to the cooker and fry everything until the onions get transparent (3-4 minutes). Add garlic and fry it for less than one minute otherwise it gets bitter. Add the wine, 2 dl of water, lemon zestes and our bouquet garni. In original recipe you add also a can of peeled tomatoes, but I decided to skip this ingredient since I prefer milder flavors.

At the end, put the meat back in the pressure cooker and careully close the lid. When the steam starts to go out from the nozzle, cook for 25 min on low heat. When you open the lid, the meat should be tender and your house will soon be filled with inviting bouquet.

The bone of ossobuco is the yummiest part

In the meantime you can prepare the side dishes. Yesterday, I was cooking dried king boletus that previously have to be soaked in water for an hour. Luckily, I have put the soaking water aside and today it was great for cooking parboiled rice in it. During the cooking, the water should entirely evaporate so that the rice absorbs as much as possible of the boletus aroma and flavor. To achieve this, the volume of water has to be three times the rice volume. If needed, on medium heat reduce the soaking water to achieve the desired volume. Add some salt or half of a bouillon cube in the water, and that’s it. In that way you get a “fake” or poor man’s king boletus risotto prepared in 10 minutes. It is not so tasty to serve it as an independent dish, but as a side dish is perfect.

To make the creamy spinach is even easier. Steam the spinach for 5 minutes and then drain it. In a large skillet melt the butter over low heat, add spinach, the cream and the salt. Raise the heat to medium, mash the spinach with a wooden spoon, cook for 3-5 min. Add some pepper and serve it. To contrast the sweet and tender flavor of cream, I poured over the spinach one tablespoon of my fresh olive oil (3 weeks old) which is right now peppery and bitterish

Enjoy!