Slow cooker Italian osso buco

Ingredients
Buying the osso buco
Zesting the lemon
Serving suggestions
Can I freeze the osso buco?
More Italian cooking inspiration

When the weather cools and you unearth your slow cooker from the cupboard, add this Italian-style osso bucco recipe to your dinner list! The long cooking time helps the meat become melt-in-your-mouth tender, and will fill your house with beautiful aromas as it bubbles away.

We’ve paired this Italian osso bucco with a fresh lemon and fennel salad that compliments the slow cooker meal, but you can omit this if you like.

Ingredients

¼ cup (35g) plain (all-purpose) flour

2 teaspoons fennel seeds

2 tablespoons olive oil

12 small pieces beef osso buco (1.8kg)

1 medium brown onion (150g), chopped coarsely

1 baby fennel bulb (130g), trimmed, chopped coarsely

2 rindless bacon slices (130g), chopped coarsely

3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 dried bay leaves

pinch saffron threads

½ cup (125ml) dry white wine

1½ cups (375ml) beef stock

1 sprig fresh rosemary

LEMON & FENNEL SALAD

1 baby fennel bulb (130g)

⅓ cup loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

1 tablespoon finely sliced lemon rind (see tips)

2 teaspoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons olive oil

Method

Combine flour and fennel seeds in a large bowl; season.

Heat oil in a 4.5-litre (18-cup) slow cooker on sear (HIGH) setting. Coat beef in flour mixture; shake off excess (reserve excess flour). Cook beef, in batches, for 5 minutes each side or until well browned. Remove from cooker.

Add onion, fennel, bacon, garlic, bay leaves and saffron to cooker; cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until vegetables soften. Sprinkle with reserved excess flour; cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Gradually stir in wine and stock; bring to the boil. Add rosemary.

Return beef to cooker, packing tightly in cooker. Cook, covered, on low, for 8 hours. Discard bay leaves and rosemary; season to taste.

Just before serving, make lemon and fennel salad: Trim fennel, reserve fronds. Using a mandoline or V-slicer, shave fennel finely. Combine fennel with reserved fronds, rind, parsley, juice and oil in a medium bowl; season to taste.

Serve osso buco topped with salad.

Buying the osso buco

Ask the butcher for small pieces (about 3cm/1¼ inches) of either beef or veal shin (osso buco) for this slow cooker recipe.

Zesting the lemon

Use a zesting tool to make long thin strips of lemon rind. If you don’t have one you can thinly peel the rind from the lemon, avoiding any white pith, then finely slice the rind into long thin strips.