WOW some prices at the supermarkets are out of sight. Today I saw salmon that was double the price of what I was expecting. I also saw beef ribs that looked like a small amount of beef for $45. Even the cheapest chicken breasts at Walmart gone up from $2 a pound to $3. a pound that is 33% more expensive…….I did notice that beef shanks (smaller sized ones) seemed still very reasonably priced compared to everything else so I picked one pack up. It’s fun to make them osso buco style. I’m not big on beef dishes but this is one of my favorite beefs.
First you brown them up on both sides preferably in beef fat.
Then you get soup type vegetables sort of soft with the dripping from your fry pan. You add white wine and reduce. Add stock and or tomato juice, the vegetables, and the beef shanks to a pan. Cover well and roast at 375 F till falling apart tender. (If you have nice bigger beef shanks you might prefer to tie them up so they stay together.) Depending on the size of the beef shanks this will take at least 3-6 hours (If you have giant ones then maybe more time). But you do need to add water to the pan after a few hours.
The beef shanks came out good. I removed the bay leaves and blended up the liquid and vegetables and used it like a gravy for the beef shank and polenta. I also made a basic gemolata of parsley, celery leaves, and lemon zest.
The one beef shank was big enough for two dinners.
Got a second meal for two out of the second beef shank. Made Italian flavored tacos. (don’t mean to brag but this came out so good I could get rich selling them)
Used that Italian chili crisp I made recently that adds all kinds of flavors, textures, and heat.
Mixed the pulled beef shank meat and mixed it with some Italian chili crisp and the leftover gremolata…….Put them on radish (Korean Radish) slices, topped with some pickled baby bell peppers..
They were really delicious.
Someone was very interested in them.
Earlier in the week recently I made braised and crispy leeks with this tarator sauce ( long story……I made toum sauce (garlic sauce that comes with shawarma…kept adding nuts and other things and turned it into tarator sauce…but it did come out amazing). This dish also came with date brown butter.
Leftover tarator and datę brown butter also went well with Japanese sweet potatoes with a very thin olive oil crisp.
Those were a few things worth mentioning.
