This is a perfect mid week meal. It is not difficult to prepare; dinner shall not take more than an hour to be ready. But the rich flavour will have folks thinking you have been slaving for hours. LOL.
You can use any pasta for this dish ( I used bucatini), and if one has left over shank broth its perfect too to deepen the rich flavour. If making the sauce from scratch you can use your pressure cooker or instant pot to cook the ossobuco faster. I used my instant pot.
Let’s get started.
Ingredients: Two medium beef shanks, one chopped carrot, two chopped onions, two chopped eggplants, two chopped tomatoes, one chopped green pepper, tomato paste. Spices are one tbsp mixed ground spices and 1tsp dried mixed herbs, two chopped garlic cloves, chopped coriander leaves for garnish and salt and pepper.
As always when cooking shanks, lightly dredge in a plate with some all purpose flour mixed with salt and pepper and fry on high heat for a few minutes to brown the meat and seal the juices. What we did here.
Set your instant pot to sauté function, add a tbsp of oil and fry your onions and chopped garlic. Add in your veggies, mix well then add in a tbsp of tomato paste and your spices. Mix well and ensure they don’t burn.Add the beef shanks to the vegetable mix.Add one cup of water or beef broth if you have, ensure to just covers the shanks. Cover and cook on high pressure for 35 minutes. (Cancel saute function and press pressure cooker button on the instant pot)Once ready, remove the shanks and shred the meat using a fork, it will fall apart easily. Set your instant pot back to sauté function and return the meat to the sauce.Mix well for a few minutes till sauce is thickened to your liking.
Meanwhile, cook your pasta as per instructions on the pack. Drain and add the pasta to the meat sauce.
Switch off the cooker, add the garnish and serve. Final plate; Bucatini and ossobuco sauce. Yum!
MY KAMPALA NOTEBOOK 