Well y’all, Bowen starts his job tomorrow. I decided he needed just ONE last hooray before the big day, a hooray to me is a wonderful meal. In order to really hit it out of the park with his send off meal I felt like he needed a manly, meaty, bone-in dish…Osso Bucco it is. Except Whole Foods didn’t have veal??? They said I would need to call two days in advance to order, NO THANK YOU.
This was an emergency, I had the whole meal planned out in my head. The butcher suggested a dry aged beef shank. I took his advice and gratefully so, Bowen said this is the best thing I’ve ever made (exaggeration I think) but we did love it. Oh, and Bowen also said after we had finished eating.. ” This really didn’t seem that hard to make.” HA. Excuse me 
Truthfully, it really wasn’t. Once you get the meat in the oven your done. If you can mince your garlic and shallot for the risotto while your prepping the miropoix for the braising then your pretty much finished with all the prep work.
The sauce is my proud moment, though. Last phase in school we did a lot of braising and a lot of pan sauces. These two things become second nature and more of a technique we were pushed to master. I actually didn’t use a recipe for the braising or the risotto but came up with one for this dish because I will definitely be duplicating this dish.
What you need: For the braised shank:
4 oz carrots, 1/4 inch rounds
4 oz, celery, 1/4 rounds
1/2 onion, med dice
1 T garlic, minced
1 T tomato paste
3-5 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 cup white wine
chicken/or beef stock to cover
What you do:
season the beef on each side with kosher salt and cracked P, sear shank on all sides in hot oil, remove and set aside, add miropoix and sauté until caramelized, add tomato paste, garlic, and wine, reduce by half, cover with stock and let it go in a 350 degree for 3 hours!!!!
Make sure the stock comes to a boil before you pop it in the oven 
Saffron threads ( which were only four dollars at Whole Foods) not bad for the worlds most expensive spice. Saffron is the little thread at the center of a small purple crocus, where the pollen catches and develops. There are a whopping three threads per flower, which are hand-picked and then dried. That, and the fact that it takes 13,125 threads to make an ounce is why saffron is the world’s most expensive spice.
For the Saffron Risotto
1 T minced garlic
2 T minced shallot
pinch of saffron threads (see above–we used them all :0 )
2 c. arborrio rice
1/2 c. white wine
3 1/2 c. chicken stock
freshly grated parmesan to taste
Heat the chicken stock in a pot and add saffron, leave on low through out preparation of risotto. In a separate sauté pan, sautee shallot and garlic in 1 T olive oil until soft, add rice and stir until coated with olive oil from pan, deglaze with white wine, add a ladle of the saffron-infused stock and cook, stirring, until it is absorbed. Continue adding the stock a ladle at a time, waiting until the liquid is absorbed before adding more. Cook until the rice is tender and creamy and yet still a little al dente, about 15 minutes. Stir in the cheese until well mixed.
To make the sauce:
Add a ladle of the braising liquid the meat is cooking in to a sauté pan. I ran the sauce through a cheesecloth lined mesh strainer to absorb the grease and mirepoix (we do this in school EVERY time) then added thyme and minced shallot. Reduce braising liquid until reduced by 1/2, strain again, and then whisk in 1/4 stick of cold butter.
