Ossobuco alla Milanese

It looked pretty much complicated as I was reading through several recipes, but once you get on it! It's just easy. It was my patience that I had to work with since it takes hours to get a good bite into this meat. 

Ingredients

1	cup	White Onions, finely chopped
1	cup	Carrots, finely chopped
1	cup	Celery, finely chopped
1/4	cup	Olive Oil
2	teaspoon	Garlic, finely chopped
1	piece	lemon peel strips (from 1 lemon)
1/2	cup	Olive Oil
4	piece	Veal Shanks, cut into 3/4 inch thickness
3/4	cups	All Purpose Flour
4	cups	Beef Broth
750	ml	Tomato Basil Sauce
1/4	teaspoon	Dried Thyme
2	pieces	Fresh Basil
2	pieces	Bay Leaf or Laurel Leaves
3	sprigs	Parsley
		Salt and Pepper
4	pieces	Potatoes, boiled and peeled
4	tablespoon	Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1	cup	Milk
2	tablespoon	Basil Leaves, chopped
		Salt and Pepper

Procedure

1 Preheat the Oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit (175 Celcius)
2 Pat dry all the veal/beef shanks with a clean towel.
3 Choose a heavy casserole that can hold the veal pieces later in a single layer. Put in the first portion of olive oil, onion, carrot, celery. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes to soften the vegetables. Add the garlic and lemon peel slices to end and remove from heat.
4 Heat Olive Oil in a skillet over medium high heat. When the oil is quite hot, Dredge and brown the veal on all sides one by one or how many pieces can fit comfortably into your skillet without cramping the meat. Stand the veal pieces side by side on top of the vegetables in the casserole.
5 Simmer the broth in a pan and pour into the casserole. Add the tomato basil sauce, thyme, basil, bay leaves, parsley, pepper and salt. The broth should cover the veal pieces. If it does not, add more broth.
6 Bring the contents of the casserole to a simmer on top of the stove. Cover tightly and put into the preheated oven. Cook for about 3 hours, carefully turning and basting the beal every hour. When done, they should be very tender when pricked with fork, and their sauce should be dense and creamy.
7 While waiting for the shank to cook, make the mashed potato to accompany the meat.
8 Put in the cooked potato, cream cheese, milk and basil chiffonade into a food processor.
9 Season to taste. Set aside.
10 Top mashed potato with pieces of veal and pour sauce over and serve piping hot.

Cooking tips and alternatives!
You have to put the shank into the skillet to brown as soon as You have dipped it in flour, otherwise the flour may dampen and the meat wont brown properly.                                                                         If the casseroles runs out of liquid while still cooking, you may add more broth or water.                    If the sauce is too thin and the veal is done, remove the meat to a platter, placed the uncovered casserole on top of the stove and over high heat boil the sauce until it thickens.

It's a comfort food i must say!!! Thanks to patience, it came out to its desired tenderness :) 

Beef Caldereta / Kaldereta (Beef Stew)

 
I super love the blend of tomato and cheese which makes every caldereta meal a hearty meal. :) My friend - Ria - is craving for beef caldereta today and so i decided to share our home recipe for this! We've loved our version of beef caldereta since our housemate Jovie came along three years ago! :) This is her recipe and you can actually do a variation of this with kambing/goat meat.

1 kilo            Beef kenchi (cut into cubes)
1 pc              garlic (whole - crushed)
4 pcs             red onions (sliced)
1 k                potatoes (cut into cubes)
2 pcs.            carrots large (cut into cubes or big chunks same size with your meat / potatoes)
1 pc              red bell peppers (cut into big squares / large dice)
1 pc              green bell peppers (cut into big squares / large dice)
250 grams    green peas
1/4 cup         cooking oil 
170 grams     liver spread (Reno Brand )
1 kilo            tomato sauce (Del Monte )
1 small pack tomato paste (Del Monte )
175 grams    quickmelt cheese (Che Vital )
                    black pepper, to season

** You can have any grocery or market butcher cut your meat to 'kaldereta' cut! -easy!

Procedure:
1.) Heat oil in a casserole with medium-high heat. When hot, saute garlic until golden brown, saute onion until translucent. Saute beef until liquid extract of meat evaporate until almost dry, season with freshly ground black pepper.
2.) Put in water just to cover meat. Put to a boil and lower heat to simmer for 2 hours (or until meat is tender), check once in a while and put in more water if necessary.
3.) When meat is tender, bring to a boil and put in liver spread, tomato sauce, tomato paste and quickmelt cheese for the meat to absorb the taste. Mix well until the mixture is well blended with the meat. 
4.) Put in potatoes, carrots, green peas, red bell pepper and green bell pepper. Bring to a boil and lower heat simmer for another 20 mins (or until potatoes are cooked to your desired texture)

Cooking is definitely about your and your guests! So just grab those ingredients and make it happen in your dinner table!!! Enjoy! :) Photos to follow!