Veal Estofado

Leafing through a back copy of the Jamie magazine at the weekend, I came across this dish which appealed to me instantly. During our World Cup series, we cooked Greek stifado which we both loved, not only for it’s flavour but also for the ease in which it was produced. The Greek version used pork shoulder but this version uses veal which we’re both keen to eat a lot more of now that we’ve found a good supplier. Not only is it an industry that’s worth supporting but, if you can find it, it’s very cheap. This cut, known as osso bucco or shank, was just £3.04 and there was more than enough for the two of us.

As with the pork version, it was super simple to make and produced a rich, deep dish that you would be forgiven for thinking used lots of complex spicing or lengthy browning and simmering techniques. I cooked this in two stages, the browning and initial simmering with the lid on yesterday and the more gentle simmering tonight when we got home from work so there was some effort involved but nothing too taxing. The veal took on all the flavours from the spices and other ingredients, was meltingly tender and had the added bonus of producing some brilliant bone-marrow which we spread onto torn up bread while waiting for the vegetables to cook.

Jamie reckons you can adapt this for any time of the year by using seasonal vegetables which I don’t entirely agree with. We ate broad beans and peas with ours which were lovely and summery but this is still a fairly hearty dish, even with bread taking the place of something more wintery like mashed potatoes. It was however perfect for the damp and dreary weather we had today which was a lucky accident really but one I’m more than happy with.