• Ingredients:
  • 8oz package of whole FunGuy white button mushrooms
  • 1 onion
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 2 carrots
  • 1 stalk celery
  • 4 beef ossobuco pieces
  • ½ cup flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 cups diced tomatoes, canned or fresh
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 1 cup beef broth
  • 1 sprig rosemary
  • 2 sprigs oregano
  • 2 sprigs thyme
  • 2-3 bay leaves
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 3½ cups water
  • 1 cup coarsely ground cornmeal
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons mascarpone or cream cheese

Make no bones about it, ossobuco appears to be an intimidating dish to even the most seasoned cooks, but it’s actually easier that you’d think! 

This dish really only requires three simple techniques; some simple knife skills, properly dredging and browning meat, and how to braise meat with fresh chopped vegetables and FunGuy mushrooms. It also requires the ability to wait a couple of hours while it cooks down into a fall of the bone tender meal without too much poking and prodding in between. 

For this particular recipe, we have included a creamy polenta that is the perfect accompaniment to  ossobuco, but is just as tasty with only the braised mushrooms and vegetables too! 

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Brush off any debris from the FunGuy mushrooms with a damp cloth, trim the stems, and cut them into quarters. Chop the onion and mince the garlic. Peel and cut the carrots into thin rounds and chop the celery. 
  2. Lay the ossobuco pieces on a clean cutting board and season each side with the salt and pepper. Add the flour to a dish and dredge each piece of meat, making sure each side is coated, and shake off excess flour. 
  3. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or deep braising dish over medium-high heat. Once it’s hot, add the ossobuco to the dish and brown the outside; 3-4 minutes on each side. Transfer to a clean dish. 
  4. Add the onions to the Dutch oven and sauté 1 minute. Add the garlic and sauté another minute before adding in the carrots, and celery and continuing to cook 2-3 minutes stirring frequently. Pour the wine into the Dutch oven and deglaze it while scraping any crispy bits from the bottom. Let it cook until the wine has reduced by half. 
  5. Toss in the tomatoes, pour in the broth, and add the rosemary, thyme, oregano, and bay leaves. and Stir to combine and cover, reduce the heat to medium low and allow it to simmer 2 ½ hours or until the meat falls off the bone. Be certain to stir occasionally to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. 
  6. 30 minutes before the ossobuco is ready, prepare the polenta. 
  7. Bring the water to a boil over high heat in a medium sized pot. Add the cornmeal to the hot water, whisking continuously to keep it from becoming lumpy. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the butter as it melts. Once it has started to thicken, cover the pot and let it cook about 20-25 minutes, stirring frequently so it doesn’t stick. Once the polenta has cooked through, stir in the mascarpone cheese and turn off the heat. Add salt to taste. 
  8. Once the ossobuco and mushrooms are cooked through remove the bay leaves and rosemary stem, taste and season with salt and pepper as desired. 
  9. Serve with a spoonful of polenta topped with one piece of ossobuco, a large spoonful of the mushroom and tomato mixture, and fresh parsley leaves.

Have a Fun meal!