NICHOLA FLETCHER'S RECIPE
© 2004 Nichola Fletcher

Venison Osso bucco with Hasselback potatoes and carrot & fennel mash

Serves 4

Osso bucco is the English spelling of ossobuco: the Italian for marrowbone, usually veal, when thick slices of shin are cut to include the bone. Shin is one of the toughest parts of any animal and therefore requires very long slow cooking. Try and hurry it up and you will end up with a texture akin to knicker elastic or worse. Leave it to simmer for hours, though, and the cartilaginous parts turn into a heavenly jelly that, with the bone marrow, lubricates the meat to produce a voluptuous dish with a silky sauce. This is one of the occasions when it pays to have lots of ingredients that will mingle as they cook to produce a dark, rich, velvety sauce. Like oxtail, slices of shin will vary greatly in size. This dish may also be made as a casserole using 650g/ 1½ lbs diced venison shoulder or shin but the cooking time for shoulder can be reduced to 2-2 ½ hours.

Ingredients
1 kg (2¼ lb) venison osso bucco cut into 8 or 16 slices
250g diced root vegetables (carrot, parsnip, turnip, celeriac)
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
250g/ 8 oz stoned plums
300 ml (½ pt) red wine
200 ml port or red vermouth
200 ml stock or water
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons rowan or redcurrant jelly
10 juniper berries, crushed
½ teasp. ground nutmeg
½ teasp. ground ginger
¼ teasp. ground cloves
Pepper, salt
Bunch of fresh herbs (thyme, fennel, rosemary)

4 large or 8 medium potatoes
Butter or oil
Coarse ground or flaked sea salt
Pepper

650g / 1½lbs carrots
1 tablespoon butter
150ml / ¼ pt cream
Pinch of coriander seeds
1 tablespoon fresh fennel
 

Method
Brown the root vegetables, onion and garlic, and place in a large casserole dish. Brown the osso bucco over a fierce heat and add them to the casserole with the plums, red wine, port, stock, balsamic vinegar, jelly, crushed juniper berries, spices, fresh herbs, and a pinch of salt. Bring to simmering point in a hot oven, then cover tightly and cook very slowly indeed at a low temperature till tender, which will take 4 – 6 hours.

An hour before you want to serve the osso bucco, prepare the potatoes. Push a skewer through them lengthways about 1 cm from the base. This is to prevent the knife cutting all the way through. With a sharp knife, make cuts about 4cm wide all the way along, as though you were partially slicing a loaf of bread. Carefully withdraw the skewer. Continue with the rest of the potatoes. Smear the tops with butter and/or drizzle with oil, sprinkle with sea salt and grind some pepper over them. Bake in a medium-hot oven (200º C) for about ¾ - 1 hour depending on size. When done, the potatoes will have opened out slightly, like a fan, crisp on top and moist in the centre.

While these cook, make the carrot mash. Peel and chop the carrots, boil for about 20 minutes till soft, then mash them with a tablespoon of butter and the cream. Season with salt and pepper, and finish by stirring in a tablespoon of fresh fennel leaves, snipped finely. Keep warm.

When the osso bucco is cooked, carefully remove the slices and divide them between four warmed plates. Strain the sauce from the vegetables, check the seasoning and spoon it round the meat. Serve with the hasselback potatoes and carrot mash.