Masala Osso Buco

Osso Buco literally means bone with a hole, i.e.—marrowbone. While a lot of Indian meat dishes feature bone-on shank pieces, the mutton and lamb that are most commonly used, are much smaller in size than the veal shank that is typical to the classic Italian osso buco, and they yield a significantly smaller bounty of the delicious treasure hidden inside the bone.

In search of that incredibly moist and unctuous marrow, I’ve whipped up multiple batches of Marcella Hazan’s Osso Buco recipe as soon as the cool, crisp days of autumn arrive. And every year, after we’ve finished sopping up the gravy and marrow with the last pieces of bread, I always plan to make an Indian-inflected version the next time.

So here it finally is—my ode to marrow.

Like Marcella’s recipe, I start the aromatics on the stovetop and finish cooking the dish in the dry, enveloping heat of the oven. It is best to cook it a day ahead and to allow the meat to luxuriate in the gravy overnight. This also allows the marrow to congeal a bit, and it is easier to dig out when the time comes.

I promise there will be no bread (or naan) left at the table!

Ingredients
Four 1½ -inch-thick slices of Veal Shank (each tied tightly around the middle with butcher twine)
¼ cup Flour (spread on a plate)
2 tbsp Vegetable oil
4 tbsp Ghee
1½ tsp whole Cumin
½ tsp whole Black Cumin (Shah Jeera)
1 tbsp whole Black Peppercorns
1 whole Black Cardamom
3-4 Bay Leaves
2 small Onions, chopped
1 tbsp crushed Garlic
1 tsp crushed Ginger
2 Tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp ground Coriander
1 tsp ground Garam Masala
2-3 tsp Chilli powder (adjust to your taste)
Salt (to taste)
½ cup plain Yogurt (whisked with 1 cup water)
8–10 whole stalks Cilantro (stems and leaves)

1. Lightly dredge Veal in flour, turning to coat all sides, and shake off any excess flour. Heat vegetable oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot, until smoking. Add meat and brown well on both sides. Remove veal from pot and set aside on a platter. Pour out oil and wipe pot clean. 
2. Heat ghee in the same pot over medium-high until smoking. Add cumin, black cumin, peppercorns, black cardamom, and bay leaves, stir for about 1 min and allow the spices to swell. Add onions and fry for 5–7 mins, until golden brown and well caramelised. 
3. Add garlic and ginger and continue frying for 2 mins. Add tomatoes and continue cooking for 5 mins until they disintegrate. 
4. Mix coriander, garam masala, and chilli powder in a little water to make into a paste and add to the pot. Stir briskly, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pot, until the oil starts to separate from the spice mixture, about 3-4 mins. 
5. Add veal and any accumulated meat juices to the pot, and stir well to coat the veal thoroughly with the spices. Add salt and yogurt, stir and bring to a brisk boil. Turn off heat. 
6. Add cilantro, cover the pot and place in the bottom rack of a 350ºF [175ºC] pre-heated oven. Cook for about 1½ hrs, or until the veal feels very tender when prodded with a fork, and a dense, creamy gravy has formed. Stir and baste the veal every ½ hour while it is cooking. If the liquid in the pot becomes insufficient, add 2-3 tbsps of water at a time, as needed. (Alternately, you can skip the step in the oven and continue simmering the veal on the stovetop over low heat for 1½ hrs.) 
7. Remove veal from oven and transfer to a warm serving platter. Gently untie the butcher twine from the veal pieces, and discard twine along with the cilantro stalks. Spoon gravy over veal and serve with warm crusty bread or naan.

Crispy Potatoes with Spicy Pesto

Pesto is one of those versatile sauces that is great to keep on hand for a quick meal—tossed with pasta or as a fragrant topping for fish or meat. Over the years I’ve always sworn by Marcella Hazan’s classic pesto recipe, which is, frankly, infallible.

But recently, when a friend offered me basil from his over-abundant kitchen garden, I felt the urge to tweak Marcella’s recipe for a little extra punch. So I spiked the glistening, emerald pesto with green chillies, and added ginger for additional heat.

I spooned the spicy pesto over golden, crispy oven-roasted potatoes, for a perfectly irresistible finger food.

Ingredients

2 lbs [1 kg] Potatoes, washed and cut lengthwise, skin-on, into 8 pieces each
1 tsp freshly ground Black Pepper
Sea Salt (to taste)
4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Spicy Pesto: 

2 cups tightly packed Basil leaves
½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 tbsp Pine nuts
2 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
2-inch piece Ginger, peeled and minced
4 fresh Green Chillies
Sea Salt (to taste)
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

[Please note that this yields double the pesto needed for this potato dish. So use half of the pesto with the potatoes, and freeze the rest for later use.] 

1. Pre-heat oven to 450º F (230ºC). Arrange potatoes in one layer in a baking dish. Sprinkle black pepper and sea salt, drizzle with olive oil, and using your hands, toss well to mix. 
2. Roast in the oven for 30 mins, then stir the potatoes to ensure that they caramelise evenly on all sides. Continue roasting for another 15 mins until golden brown and crispy. 
3. While the potatoes are roasting, put basil, extra virgin olive oil, pine nuts, garlic, ginger, green chillies, and sea salt in a food processor, and pulse 4–6 times until a smooth paste is formed. Remove pesto into a bowl and gently fold in parmesan. Set aside half the pesto for the potatoes, and freeze the rest for later use. 
4. Remove potatoes from oven and let sit for 2–3 mins. Spoon pesto onto the potatoes, and toss gently so they are well coated. Serve immediately.

Braised Turkey Meatballs

This recipe is my take on the classic, messy, comfort-food meatballs that are ubiquitous to all the “red sauce” establishments in Little Italy in New York. I’ve been tweaking the recipe for a while now—with Tastey Boy’s vigorous encouragement for further experimentation—and can safely say that it’s pretty foolproof now. I’ve culled the techniques mainly from Marcella Hazan’s various recipes for classical braised meats and tomato-based sauces. Some purists may wrinkle their noses at my cooking the meatballs in the convection heat of the oven as opposed to letting them simmer over direct heat, and others might raise their eyebrows at my addition of milk to balance the acidity of the wine and tomatoes. But I’m not making any claims to “authenticity”—this is simply my elaborate, multi-step homage to Italian-American cookery, perfect for when you want to putter an afternoon away in the kitchen. 

Ingredients

Meatballs:

2 Eggs
5 lbs ground Turkey
1½ cup Breadcrumbs
½ cup Parsley, finely chopped
2 tbsp Fennel Seeds
2 tbsp Paprika
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tbsp red chilli pepper flakes (optional)
Salt (to taste)

1 cup vegetable oil

Sauce:

4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp Olive oil
2 Bay leaves
1 large Onion, finely chopped
2/3 cup Carrot, finely chopped
2/3 cup Celery, finely chopped
4 cloves Garlic, minced
2 strips Lemon peel (without the white pith)
½ cup dry white wine
Meatballs (see recipe above)
1 cup milk
7 cups canned Tomatoes, crushed with their juice
1 cup Water
1 tsp fresh Thyme (or ½ tsp dried thyme)
2-3 sprigs Parsley
1 tsp Black Pepper
Salt (to taste)

1. Beat eggs in a large bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients for the meatballs and mix well to combine. Let sit for 10 mins, and then form the mixture into golf-ball-sized meatballs (about 50-60 pieces).
2. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet. Fry the meatballs in batches until golden brown and lightly crisp on the outside. Remove meatballs from pan and let drain on a platter lined with paper towels.
3. Heat butter and olive oil in a deep cast-iron pot (large enough to subsequently accommodate all the meatballs). Add bay leaves, onions, carrots and celery and sauté for 5-7 mins. Add garlic and lemon peel and cook another 2-3 mins until the vegetables soften and wilt.
4. Add wine to deglaze, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pot and continue to simmer for 5-7 mins until the wine has evaporated completely.
5. Add meatballs and stir well. Add milk and let simmer gently until it has bubbled away completely.
6. Add tomatoes, water, thyme, parsley, black pepper and salt, stir well and bring to a brisk boil. Turn off heat.
7. Cover the pot tightly and place in the bottom rack of a 350ºF pre-heated oven. Cook for about 3 hrs, or until the meatballs feel very tender when prodded with a fork and a dense, creamy sauce has formed. Turn and baste the meatballs every ½ hour while they are cooking. If the liquid in the pot becomes insufficient, add 2-3 tbsps of water at a time, as needed.
8. Remove meatballs from oven and transfer to a warm platter. Serve hot over linguine or spaghetti cooked al dente, garnished with chopped parsley.