Local Meal of the Week (DDELC09/10 #10)

This week’s Dark Days Eat Local Challenge meal was Osso Buco over polenta. A few weeks ago, I asked the folks at Sankow’s Beaver Brook if they had veal shanks for Osso Buco and this week, they hooked me up!

Comparing recipes from Mario Batali, Giada De Laurentiis, and Emeril Lagasse, I decided to go with a combination of Mario and Giada’s versions. Emeril’s recipe was the Romagna version, made with red wine and pancetta. Sounds delicious, but not the one I wanted this time. Giada and Mario both had the Milanese version. In blending Mario with Giada, I basically went for easy! I didn’t make Mario’s tomato sauce or Gremalato and I didn’t make Giada’s bouquet garni. I used Mario’s 1:1 wine to stock ratio instead of Giada’s 1:3.

The verdict: OMG!!! Absolutely delicious.

Here’s my ingredient list:

• veal shanks from Sankow’s Beaver Brook, dredged in flour from Wild Hive Farm and Micro Mill
  
• olive oil from Italy (sadly not in my foodshed)
• carrot and celeriac from Riverbank Farm
• onion from Cedar Hill, Newtown, CT
• thyme from Holbrook Farm, dried 2009
• tomatoes from Vaszauskas Farm, Middlebury, CT, canned here in October 2008. I used 1-1/2 cups (not Mario’s tomato sauce and not Giada’s paste)
• chicken stock from my freezer, mostly from Andy’s chickens, acquired at Holbrook Farm.
• Anastasia Blush from DiGrazia Vineyards for the wine. This is not a dry white as specified; it’s a semi-sweet Rose but it was the least sweet local white wine I had on hand. It actually tastes lovely and adds an nice flavor to the dish.

I generally prefer Osso Buco over risotto, but to keep it local, I went with polenta. Good call. I spread the polenta on a sheet, let it cool, cut it into blocks, and pan-fried the blocks. I added butter to the polenta recipe which brings out the flavor of the corn. I believe I could have made a meal of just the polenta smothered with the Osso Buco gravy! The corn meal I used for the polenta was from Wild Hive Farm and Micro Mill. The butter was from away: Vermont Butter and Cheese.

One of the big thrills of Osso Buco is the bone marrow. Spread this on some bread (Wave Hill, preferably) and it’s better’n buttah!