These aren’t complete dinners – think of them as a kind of Hamburger Helper for gourmets. In the case of the Osso Bucco, one needs to provide meat, diced tomatoes, beef broth and wine in addition to the barley, spice and vegetable packets included in the Delicaé Pantry kit.
The box promises a “5 Minute Prep Time,” but that didn’t hold true in my case. I used three whole lamb foreshanks, and took some time to trim away a lot of fat and fell. I seasoned them with pepper and browned them on all sides in olive oil. After that, it went together quickly – I just put the shanks in the bottom of my crock pot, layered the contents of the barley, vegetable and spice packets over them, poured a can of drained diced tomatoes over all that, added beef broth and wine, turned the slow cooker on to low then left for the day. Quite a bit less time-consuming than making it from scratch!
When I returned that evening after working all day on remodeling my dad’s bathroom, the house was filled with a wonderful aroma – and dinner was ready! It was quite toothsome, and how nice to be able to simply put Osso Bucco in one bowl, salad in another, and sit down to eat! I will definitely make this again, though I may try the Mediterranean Lamb Shanks kit first.
Some tips: If you plan on using a round slow cooker, the shanks will fit in the pot better if you have your butcher saw them in half. If you use an oval pot, you should have no problem fitting them in.
The recipe calls for low-sodium beef broth. I used some that wasn’t particularly low in salt, but compensated by seasoning the lamb shanks with pepper only.
Two cups of red wine are called for, and I used Château Pesquie Cuvée des Terasses 2006. At $10.99 per bottle it’s inexpensive enough to cook with, and it’s excellent to drink – it went perfectly with dinner.
A variety of Delicaé Pantry slow cooking kits are available at Grapevine Cottage; all are $6.50.
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