Osso Buco with fennel, and orange gremolata



Ingredients

1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 fennel bulb, cut into large pieces
3 celery stalks, cut into 1 inch/2.5 cm pieces
4 pork shanks
19 oz/ 540 ml tin of diced tomatoes
2 tbsp/30 ml olive oil
2 tbsp/30 ml flour
1/2 cup/125 ml white wine
juice of 1 orange
5 sprigs of fresh thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Gremolata

1/2 cup/125 ml fresh parsley, chopped
1 tbsp/ 15 ml orange zest, finely grated
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced


Method

1. Add oil to a skillet and brown onion for 2 mins. Add pork shanks and brown on all sides. Sprinkle with flour and cook for a further min

2. Deglaze with wine and orange juice and bring to the boil.

3. Place pork and onion mixture in crockpot and add tomatoes, celery, fennel and thyme.Season to taste.

4. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours.

5. Make gremolata just before serving by combining parsley, orange and garlic.

6. Serve over pasta or rice with gremolata sprinkled over top

Oven

1. Heat oven to 350F/ 180C. Place pork and onion mixture in baking dish with tomatoes, fennel, celery and thyme. Plus an extra 3/4 cup/175 ml white wine. Season to taste.

2. Cover and bake for 4-5 hours. Stir occasionally adjusting liquid level if necessary.

3. Prepare gremolata as above. And serve over pasta or rice

Seasoned chicken and veggie bake

Lame title, but I don't know what else to call it, and I just made it up tonight. So yummy. I apologize for the large size of this dish, but you can adjust it as needed, or make the whole thing and freeze half for later. Also, I don't measure. Think of these amounts as rough estimates.

4 to 6 chicken leg quarters, skin removed (any cut of chicken will do)
1 package dry veggie soup mix
2.5-3 cups of water
2 small onions, chopped
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 cubes chicken bouillon
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 carrots, washed and sliced
2 stems of celery, washed and sliced

Brown the chicken, and transfer it into baking pans. (I needed a 9x13 and an 8x8 pan to hold everything.) In the same skillet where you browned the chicken, toss in your chopped onion and brown (add oil if necessary to keep it from sticking) and your flour. When onion is browned, add water, bouillon cube, soup mix, and pepper. Simmer until everything is dissolved and the mixture thickens slightly. Slice carrots and celery and scatter the slices amongst the chicken pieces. Pour your liquid over everything (if you use 2 pans, try to be judicious -- you don't want one pan swimming and the other one with like a drop). Cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 1 hour, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve with hot cooked brown rice. I added a little butter and Italian seasoning to my rice, but you can do yours however you want.

My husband also suggested cutting the chicken up into small chunks and mixing the chicken and veggies in with the rice, and serving it as a one-dish meal. It's an option, and it would be easy if you're using boneless chicken.