Osso buco-inspired beef shin

Serves 8 • Preparation: 35 minutes

Cooking time: 3½ hours

• Oven temperature: 160°C

• 8 pieces beef shin (about 1.8kg; ask your butcher for smaller pieces)

• about 80ml cake flour

• 80ml olive oil

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped

• 2 medium-sized carrots, peeled and finely chopped

• 2 long celery stalks, finely chopped

• 30ml tomato paste

• 4 garlic cloves, chopped

• 250ml dry white wine

• 1 tin (400g) plum tomatoes, mashed

• 3 bay leaves

• about 750ml beef stock

• Parmesan shavings, to serve GREMOLATA

• 30ml freshly grated lemon zest

• 125ml chopped flat-leaf parsley

• small bunch basil (optional)

• sprig of rosemary, leaves stripped

• 3 plump garlic cloves, very finely chopped

1 Roll the meat in the flour, shake off any excess flour and season well with salt and black pepper. Heat a generous drizzle of olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot and fry the meat in batches until golden-brown all over; top up the oil as needed.

2 Preheat the oven. Sauté the onion, carrots and celery until fragrant.

Stir in the tomato paste and garlic and fry for a few more minutes. Stir in the wine and scrape off any brown bits on the bottom of the pot. Now arrange the meat on top of the vegetable mixture in the pot, add the tomatoes and bay leaves and finally the stock. Make sure the meat is covered, put the lid on and bake for 3 hours.

3 Mix all the gremolata ingredients. Remove the pot with the cooked stew from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Sprinkle the gremolata on top and serve with the Parmesan and a starch of your choice.

Tips

• If the stew sauce looks a little thin to you, carefully scoop out the meat with a slotted spoon and reduce the sauce (with the gremolata in it) to a thicker consistency before spooning the meat back into it.

• The marrow bones form a rich layer of fat on top of the stew. If it’s too rich for you, precook the stew and refrigerate it overnight so that it’s easy to skim off the fat.