Beef Osso Bucco Over Parsley Parsnip Puree

Who doesn't love Osso Bucco???  Veal, pork, beef, whatever.  Slow cooked meat with vegetables is just plain ol' delish!  The restaurant I work in has done several different versions of an Osso Bucco appetizer, and at some point a light bulb went off and I decided that I absolutely needed to try making my own.  I ended up going with beef primarily because it was what was available in my grocery store at the time that I was inspired to try this recipe, and I already had most, if not all, of the ingredients, outside of the meat, available in my house.  

The Osso Bucco recipe is inspired by a dish I found on Food Network's website, and of course, was a Giada recipe, however, mine is so drastically different, that I can't even give you the link because you won't recognize it.  Likewise, the Parsnip Puree was also inspired by a Tyler Florence recipe, but I changed it up quite a bit by substituting soy milk and parsley in order to carry the parsley flavor throughout the entire dish.  This was, indeed, a huge hit in my house, and is something that I will continue to make over the years.  Give it a try, and if you want, take my recipe, mix it up a bit, and call it your own!

Ingredients:
Osso Bucco:
3 whole Beef Shanks, trimmed
1 tbsp. Whole Wheat flour
2 tbsp. Extra-virgin Olive Oil
1 small White onion, diced
2 Carrots, diced
2 Celery stalks, diced
2 Vine tomatoes, diced
1 tbsp. Tomato paste
4 c. Beef stock
2 whole garlic cloves
1 dried Bay leaf
1/4 c. Parsley, chopped

Parsley Parsnip Puree:
1 lb. Parsnip, peeled and coarsely cut
1/2 Unsweetened Soy milk
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Garlic cloves, sliced
1/4c. Parsley, lightly chopped
2 tbsp. Extra-virgin Olive Oil

Pat dry the beef shanks, and trim.  Cover all sides of the shanks with whole wheat flour.  In a 4-quart pot, heat 2 tbsp. of oil, place the beef shanks in the pan, and brown on all sides.  Remove the meat from the pan, and place aside.  

Place the onion, carrots, and celery in the pot and saute until soft, about 8 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, tomato past, beef stock, garlic cloves and bay leaf.  Return the beef shanks to the pot, and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer, and allow to cook for approximately 1 1/2-2 hours.  Add chopped parsley within the last 15 minutes of cooking.  Remove bay leaf before serving.

In the meantime, you can either cook the parsnips by placing them in a pan and covering with water, and bringing them to a boil, then simmering until tender (about 15 minutes), or steam them until cooked through.  When cooked, (a fork should easily pierce them), place the parsnips into a food processor.  In a saucepan, place the soy milk, garlic cloves and parsley over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat, and strain out the garlic and the parsley.  

Puree the parsnips in the food processor until smooth.  Slowly at the olive oil while pureeing.  When smooth, then add the soy milk, garlic, and parsnip mixture to the food processor while pureeing.  Puree until it is a texture you like.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

To present, place about a 1/4 cup of the parsnip puree in a bowl, top with part of the beef shank (it should be falling apart at this point), and then ladle over some veggies and stock from your pot.

This is such an easy dish to execute, although there may seem to be a lot of steps.  I would recommend trying it if you want to impress your in-laws or friends.  If you plate it right, they'll think they're dining at some fancy restaurant instead of sitting at your dinner table!

Wheat Berry Waldorf Salad

I had been reading about Wheat Berries all over the place, and couldn't find them in my local grocery store, and was starting to get aggravated.  What where these so-called Wheat Berries, what did they look like, and where could I find them?  Well, while in another grocery store, with more health food options, I spotted them in a bag placed with other grains, and I did a mini-celebration dance in the middle of the isle.  Hooray!  

Now, what did I want to do with them?  The Wheat Berry (also know as Hard Red Winter Wheat) are the grains of wheat without the husk.  They can be used in both savory dishes, and to my delight, sweet dishes.  I found this recipe on the back of the Wheat Berry package and immediately had to give it a try.  I love Waldorf Salad, and everything in this recipe screamed Superfood, and I didn't have to modify it at all!

I took 1/2 c. of Nature's Earthly Choice Red Winter Wheat Whole Grain Wheat Berries and cooked them with 1 1/2 c. of water.  You'll want to cook them for about 15 minutes.  The grain should be soft, but still chewy.  You will want to drain them like you would a pasta.  In a large bowl, I combined 2 tbsp. of Dijon mustard, 1 tsp. of honey, 1 sweet apple, I stalk of cerlery, 2 tbsp. of raisins, 1/3 c. of FF Greek yogurt, 2 tbsp. of fresh squeezed lemon juice, and 1/2 c. of walnuts.  I then added the cooled Wheat Berries and mixed away.  

This has become one of my favorite cold salads, and is a great dish to bring to cookouts where so many people prepare potato salads, that I'm always trying to avoid, mostly because of the potatoes themselves, and the mayo that is always being added.  I promise that you won't feel like you're missing out on anything when you combine this dish with any grilled meat that you love!

Tofu Cabbage Rolls

Why are we talking about Tofu, and also, why cabbage?  Well folks, here's the real deal.  Tofu, Soy, Tempeh; they are all Superfoods, and well, as they say, them's the breaks.  Therefore, fitting these foods into your diet at least a couple times out of the week is a very good idea.  I've never been a huge cabbage fan, however, my husband is Polish, and therefore, Gwumkis were a staple in his house growing up, which made it easy for me to fit this one into a dinner without the nose up at Tofu.  Also, like Tofu, Cabbage is yet another sidekick in the Superfoods group.

The good thing, and the bad thing, about Tofu is that it really doesn't taste like anything at all, that is, until you season it on up. So, you can make it taste however you want.  Hooray! This particular recipe came out of The Eat Clean Diet Cookbook and it's something that both my husband and I were unusually happy about.

In a medium saute pan place 1/2 onion chopped, 3 cloves of garlic pressed, 1 c. of carrot grated, and one celery rib finely chopped.  Saute until soft, add 1/4 c. of basil and 1/4 c. of parsley and crumble 1 block of medium firm tofu in the pan.  Cook until heated through and add 3 tablespoons of low-sodium soy sauce.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Take 6 large green or Savoy cabbage leaves (I recommend doing a couple extra in case they tear) and place in boiling water until it just changes color.  Remove immediately and run under cold water.  Put the tofu mixture into each or the leaves, wrap them tightly so the mixture does not fall out, and place in a steamer basket for ten minutes.  Serve nice and hot!  

The best part is that you are pretty much using the cabbage as a wrap, so you can switch this recipe up by rolling whatever you want in the middle of them, as long as it's clean and healthy of course!