I made this for dinner for my mother and it was a thousand times more delicious than it looks in the picture. This is a really easy comfort stew and will make the house smell fabulous while it cooks as well. It also gives you the excuse to have a glass of wine while you are cooking since you will need some for the broth.
I used carrots, turnips, daikon, potatoes and parsnips in my stew, but you could use whatever vegetables you happen to have available. Since so many of the vegetables were white, I cut them into different shapes to add some visual interest to the dish.
I served this over creamy polenta and added some steamed broccoli rabe to the meal for color.
2 lbs veal shank
2 large turnips, peeled and cut into pieces
2 large parsnips, ditto
2 large carrots, ditto
1 medium daikon root, ditto
3 Russet potatoes, ditto
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup your favorite red wine (I used a Chinon)
2 bay leaves
2 star anise, broken into pieces
1 1/2 tsps whole black peppercorns
Preheat the oven to 375.
Salt the veal shanks well on all sides.
Heat the oil in a large skillet. As soon as it is shimmering, add the veal shanks and brown well on each side. Take your time doing this and get a nice color on the meat as this will add flavor to the dish. I usually put the heat to medium-low once the oil is heated and brown the meat for 2 minutes on each side.
While the meat is browning, heat the red wine to boiling in a small pan along with the peppercorns, star anise and bay leaves. Boil for a couple of minutes to burn off the alcohol and to allow the spices to flower.
Once the meat is browned, remove from the pan. Add the onion in its place and cook for a few minutes, stirring often, until it is starting to become translucent.
As soon as it does, turn off the heat under the pan. Add the meat back to the pan and then nestle all the other vegetables around it. Salt well.
Pour over the spiced wine, making sure that the peppercorns and star anise pieces are evenly distributed in the dish.
Cover and place in oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Check at 1 and a half hours -- you want meat that is falling off the bones.
Remove the bones from the dish and any star anise pieces that you come across and serve with polenta.
I removed the remaining meat from the dish, mashed the vegetables into the sauce and served this as a sauce for pasta the next day.
Comments