Every time I step into a bookstore I end up buying a cookbook. I collect them, look upon them lovingly and admire how great they all look on my shelf. Whenever I buy a new one, I immediately go through it and post-it the heck out of it. Colour-coded of course, blue for easy, pink for hard, green for desserts...by the time I'm though with them they look a bit ridiculous really...And then I hardly even cook from them! The other day, I was determined to start doing so, and picked up one of the larger ones on the shelf - The Silver Spoon. I asked for it (and received it) for Christmas 4 years ago, and haven't used it ONCE.
Considered to be the Bible of authentic Italian home cooking, it has over 2,000 recipes, weighs 1.5kg (I checked it on my scale!), and has nice coloured pictures scattered throughout. Since I had some osso bucco (veal shank) in the freezer, I chose to make a Milanese Osso Bucco (Ossibuchi alla Milanese), and a Tarte Tatin - not an Italian dessert and so a bit out of place, but I've always wanted to try it.
You'll need (serves 4):
40g
1.2 an onion, chopped
4 pieces of osso bucco
5 tbls dry white wine
175ml meat stock
1 celery stick, chopped
1 carrot, diced
2 tbls tomato pureé
Salt and pepper, to taste
Plain flour, for dusting
Optional: I added some pancetta cubes for extra flavour
Parsley, for colour
