Osso Bucco to you, too! - InstantPot Bucco

Oooh, for all you InstantPotties out there... you are gonna love this! One of my favorite Fall recipes is Osso Bucco but could it be replicated using my InstantPot, I wondered?

This recipe turned out beautifully and although the prepping may be a bit more involved than just a one-pot dump sorta getup, the joy I got just knowing that this knockout of a meal would be ready without much more effort on my part, sorta made me swoon in anticipation.

Whether you are prepping this for serving the same day or the next day, the "doneness" test is really a matter of personal preference. Me? I like the oxtails super tender and falling off the bone BUT still on the bone. You may have to play with this a little bit based on your taste factors, but I found it super easy and just as rewarding to make this dish using the InstantPot.

Get ready, it's so worthy.

Ingredients for Dredging:

• Flour
• Italian seasonings (Rustic Tuscan from Costco is great)
• salt, pepper

Ingredients for Osso Bucco:

• 1-2 lbs of fresh, pre-cut oxtails
• 1-2 fresh carrots, diced
• 1-2 stalks of fresh celery, diced
• 1 red onion, diced
• 2 fresh or dried bay leaves
• a bouquet garni of fresh thyme, rosemary (I tie it in a string to make fishing it out easier later)
• 1 tbsp of Better than Bouillon roasted garlic (optional)
• 1 c of dry white wine
• 3 c of chicken stock
• 2 tbsp of tomato paste

Dredge the meat:
In a lidded container, ziplock, bowl or plate, add about 2 c flour, 1 tbsp of Italian seasonings, salt and pepper. Dredge the oxtails, coating the oxtails well. I use a lidded click-clack style container to make quick work of this, shaking the oxtails in the dredge, with the lid on, of course.

Prep the InstantPot for Bucco:

1. On Saute mode, add a tbsp of coconut oil and a tbsp of butter or ghee.  
2. Sear the oxtails, browning on all sides. I find that I have to turn the Saute function back on a few times but I didn't mind that. It seems that the Saute function prevents the pot from getting too hot so I didn't burn them at all, which was kinda nice as a fail safe.
3. Once the oxtails have all been browned, I remove them from the InstantPot to a clean plate so I can saute the veggies and let the browned meat rest in the meantime.
4. Add the chopped veggies and tomato paste, stirring to incorporate and being careful not to let it burn as the sugars in the tomato paste will start to caramelize. 
5. If you start to see it sticking, then go ahead and add the white wine to help with the deglazing of the browning bits while the veggies saute a few minutes more. 
6. Once the tomato paste has been incorporated, add the rest of the chicken stock, the bay leaves, the Better than Bouillon if you are using it and the bouquet garni of fresh herbs.
7. Put the InstanPot lid back on. Press Cancel to stop the Saute mode.
8. Select Pressure Cook for 40 minutes and leave it to steam vent naturally. I usually cook this overnight so once this goes off, I will put it on Stew mode just to cover my overnight cooking goodness. This is entirely optional and might be handy if after the first Pressure Cook, using natural steam release, the meat isn't as tender as you'd like.

I don't usually add any additional salt until after it's done cooking as the BtB contains a good bit of sodium. If you need it, add salt and pepper to taste just before or at serving time when you can taste it properly.

Other traditional garnishes:

• Zest of a lemon or orange
• fresh rosemary and thyme
• fresh parsley
• lemon wedges

Serving Suggestions:

I typically serve this dish with pasta or gnocchi of some sort. One of my go-to starches is orzo pasta but you can use whatever you prefer, including rice, baked potatoes, baked baby reds, veggies, whatever floats your bucco boat.

I was pretty blown away by how good this turned out. It is a simple recipe really and the hardest part is just prepping the diced veggies and browning the meat. If you can do that, then you can rock the house with this dish. 

I don't think, however, that if I was serving more than 4 people, that I'd use this method unless I had two intantpots. In that case, I'd just do it the old fashioned way and slow cook in the oven using a Creuset of some sort at 325 for 3-4 hours or so. 

The Humble Pinto - Ham Hocks and Pintos

Hubby made an awesome meal tonight. He's made this dish before and what I remember from the last time he made it was just how succulent the ham hocks were. I forgot the pinto, although it's hard to imagine how.  This under-estimated, under-valued supporting actress, if ever there was one, clearly shines and deserves an Oscar for her "role" in this dish.

We Northern folk forget about the pinto. Yet, it's one of the cheapest ways to stretch a budget you can imagine.  Southerners have been doing it for years.  So, it's little wonder really that my heart sorta skipped a beat when hubby made it for me tonight. I was totally in the mood for some home-cooking, some soul soothing, comfort food. Pintos are as Southern as Grits. Maybe more so. For me, it was familiar like the smells of Mamaw's kitchen; comfort food at its finest.

Let's take a look at how he put it all together:

• 2 cups of beans
• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder or 2 garlic cloves
• 2 large smoked ham hocks
• 3 quarts of water, bring to a boil, turn down to medium heat.
• 1 fresh bay leaf
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 can of American beer
   (something in the Miller/Bud category)

Simmer beans, water, garlic and ham hocks for 2 1/2 hours in a large, enameled pot over medium to low heat.  Bring to a boil, cover, then turn down the heat to medium low so that it simmers gently, but doesn't boil over.  You shouldn't need to, but add more water during cooking, if beans absorb all of the water before the cooking time is up. If that happens, definitely turn down the heat a notch as you want to keep a good deal of this bean "liquor", which gives them such a creamy taste.

Salt! (He had an exclamation in there, I swear!) We had a discussion about salt and Hubby was adamant enough on this point that I just accepted it, although every instinct felt like this might be a mistake.  I was totally wrong and glad I kept my mouth shut.  The seasoning was absolutely perfect when dinner was served.  He continues to exclaim: Salt comes later! Never add salt to beans until they are completely cooked!  This will make your beans tough! (Who knew? but these beans were so perfect, it HAS to be true! I mean, there is salt in the hockies, after all, right?)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F ( 220 degrees C). Place the cooked beans and hocks, uncovered, directly into the oven to bake further for 20 minutes. Take out of the oven and NOW, the salting can begin.

Salt: Tonight, he added 1 teaspoon of salt per cup of beans (2 tsp total) to a can of beer and then, he poured this salty beer concoction over the ham hocks and then baked it for another half hour, which creates the crunchy, caramelized, perfectly seasoned crust for the ham hocks. The texture of the hocks is just unbeatable. The ham hocks were fall off the bone tender, yet chewy and deeply satisfying.

But just you wait until you get to the scene about the Pintos...  A perfect pinto bean is well, tricky. I have had the traditional Mexican pinto which resembles nothing of the sad, pasty Taco Bell or even El Paso canned pinto bean you may have tried before.  The beans were creamy yet firm in texture and had fantastic flavor.  No bland, pasty bean up in this joint!  This, I assure you, will be a "Whoa, Nelly!" moment.

When you realize just how easy it is to make a good Pinto recipe, it may stop you dead in your tracks and you may never go back to a pinto that lacks texture, succulence and downright goodness again. Let's face it, the ham hocks always lend flavor to the party so its hard to go wrong with this one. However, if you have time some weekend or weeknight for this Slow Cooking recipe, you won't be disappointed.