Roasted veal shank

I binge-watched "Mind of a Chef" one weekend and got hooked on April Bloomfield.  Her vision, her honesty, and her down-to-earth approach to cooking and eating really resonated with me.  One the episodes I enjoyed the most showed her cooking with Marcella Hazan.  This is one of the dishes they cooked together.

For those of you who have been reading this blog from the very beginning, you know my profession of love for Marcella Hazan.  Her cookbook has been a great source of inspiration and imagination.  It's sad the she is now gone, but her legacy truly lives on in her food.

This is not truly a recipe but rather a technique.  But the end result was so good, I don't think I would even tweak it much.

4-5 lb veal shank
1/4 cup olive oil
salt

5 shallots or 2 onions, sliced
1 whole garlic, separated into cloves, not peeled
1 cup dry white wine

Salsa verde (optional)

To make:

Rub the shank with oil and salt.  Place in a roasting pan just large enough to hold the shank.  Heat oven to 400 degrees and roast the shank for 2 hours, turning every 30 mins.

Lower oven to 300.  Place the onions or shallots and garlic around the shank and roast for 10-15 minutes.  Add the wine to the bottom of the pan and roast the shank for another 2 hours or so, basting every so often with the wine and aromatics.

The texture you are looking for is slightly crunchy on the outside, soft and slightly chewy on the inside.  You want the end product to be unctuous and tender but not falling off the bone.

Let shank rest for 15 mins then carve.  Serve with the remaining liquid and aromatics in the pan.  Some salsa verde adds a bit of freshness and acidity.

Salsa verde: I like to use parsley, arugula, basil, capers, vinegar and oil.  Blitz until it comes together.