Osso Bucco

This is my mom.

And that big bowl?  That's Osso Bucco.  Yum-my!  She kicked off our series of family dinners with several giant dishes of osso bucco that she had made ahead of time and frozen.  I've only made osso bucco once before, and it was delightful, so it was great to have it again.

It's one of those dishes that takes a long time to cook, but the preparation isn't too difficult.  Next time I'll be making a big double portion (at least!) in order to have some left to freeze.  It was easy to take the dishes from the freezer to the oven and just heat them through until they were ready to eat.

I read up a little on the dish - it's from the Milan area, made with veal shanks stewed in the traditional combination of onion, carrot and celery (sometimes with tomatoes) and sometimes garnished with a gremolata (garlic and herbs minced together).  We'll have to work up a recipe for the dish and share it soon.

Thanks, mom!

Marvelous Leftovers

The only cooking we did tonight was in the microwave, on defrost. 

I love leftovers.

We were on vacation last week and yesterday’s Easter dinner was light and the extra ham is in the freezer. So after returning everyone to school and work this morning, cooking was a no-brainer. I took a dinner-sized portion of lamb shepherd’s pie from the freezer.

I made this pie a while back, a special birthday request, and it’s easily a half-day endeavor.

There’s the chopping,

the browning,

the cooking,

and the stewing...

We enjoyed several hours of delightful scents in the kitchen the day before the dinner and let the stew sit in the refrigerator.

The next day, the kids helped me peel potatoes and top the pie for a reheating after work. It was delicious. I’m pleased to spend the time to make something my kids love, but the leftovers….that’s the delightful part! I froze a four-person dinner for another night, two lunch-sized portions and tonight’s dinner portion. And there’s nothing like having an instant gourmet dinner!