Recipe: Osso Bucco

This recipe is such a comfort-food classic and its richness just can't be beaten on a cold winter's night.  As I was searching online for the right recipe to cook, this one really jumped out due to its inclusion of a garlic, anchovy & parsley puree at the end.  And let me tell you, it absolutely makes the dish. So thank you to SBS food for its inspired Osso Bucco recipe.
Ingredients
4 x 350-400g, centre bone cut pieces of veal osso buco
100mL extra virgin olive oil  
2 medium to large onions, finely diced  
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced 
2 anchovy fillets  
1 cup dry white wine 
1kg fresh tomato, crushed with skins and seeds removed (you can use tins of tomatoes)
1 cup veal stock (or just use beef if you can't find veal)
2 large sprigs of fresh thyme 
2 large sprigs of fresh sage 
1 large sprig of fresh rosemary  
1 fresh bay leaf  (I used dried)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper  
Purée 
 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
2 tbsp finely chopped good quality anchovy  
Method
Preheat oven to 170°C.  Season the veal with the sea salt and pepper. Heat half the olive oil in a large pot and brown the veal osso buco pieces evenly on all sides. The veal should be well coloured but be careful not to burn the meat. This should take about 10 minutes.

Remove the browned veal shanks from the pot and set aside. Add remaining olive oil to the same pot and then add the onion, garlic, anchovy and herbs and sauté slowly for about 5 minutes or until translucent.  Turn up the heat and add the wine to deglaze the pan. Cook until the wine is almost completely reduced before adding the tomato and stock.

Bring to the boil before lowering heat slightly and placing the veal pieces back into the pot. Slowly bring to the boil again before allowing to simmer slowly. Check for seasoning and adjust, and add a little sugar if the tomatoes are too acidic.  

And this was the tricky part of the recipe: it didn't actually say when to put the pot in the oven, but I guessed at around 15 minutes after simmering the veal on the stove, but who knows..... Cooking time in the oven will vary depending on the thickness of the cut of veal but will take somewhere between 2.5 and 4 hours.

The veal should just start to separate from the bone when you move them from the oven. Do not remove until meat is falling off the bone, otherwise it will taste like dog meat - and you don't want that!

To make the purée, combine the garlic, anchovy and parsley.  Easy peasy.

After you have removed the veal from the sauce, stir in the puree.  Serve veal pieces with mashed potato, parmesan polenta or something similar to soak up the sauce. And don't forget some green veggies too.