Let’s face it. Life can be frantic, hurried and over-planned; causing us to miss out on important moments we would much rather linger over and savor. So on those rare days, when you find you actually have the time to stop and appreciate the stillness, be sure to take full advantage of it.
Being full time FBI agents often pull Ben and Tori in opposite directions and the occasional weekends when they’re both in town are the only times they can spend together. What better way to spend that time than in front of a nice fire, crackling in the fireplace, a glass of wine and a delicious dinner, slowly simmering in the crock pot?
Guardians of the Chosen Chapter 12 “…Later that afternoon, Tori and Ben were lounging on the floor in front of the fireplace, enjoying a glass of wine by the fire.
Goliath was contentedly chewing on a large bone, he had strategically positioned between his two front paws, as the glow from the fire gently flickered off of the tag on his new collar, proudly bearing his owners name.
“This is nice,” Tori sighed, staring into the fire.
“Yes it is,” Ben agreed, enjoying how the fire light played off of her auburn hair.
“Dinner should be ready in about a half hour,” she added, turning to him as she heard his stomach rumble.
He smiled at her, guiltily and replied, “Thank goodness! The smells you’ve had coming out of the kitchen all afternoon have been driving me crazy!”
“Since it felt like a fall day today, I decided to pull out the crock pot and try out a new recipe. It’s a dish called Osso Buco. Oh, and I baked a loaf of the ciabatta with olives and caramelized onions that you love so much.”
“That sounds wonderful! You didn’t have to go to all that trouble for me you know. You’ve been out of town the past few days. You need a day to relax!” he replied.
“Cooking does relax me!” she insisted. “Besides, we’ll have plenty of left over’s for tomorrow so it can be a no cook day. I wanted to do something nice for you since you went to all that trouble of creating that playlist for me.”
Ben smiled, reached over to push back a tendril of her hair that had fallen forward and replied, “I’m glad you liked it. It’s hard to hear anything on the radio these days that has the word angel or heaven in it without thinking of you. You are my angel, Tor, my gift.”
She smiled back at Ben and said, “And you are mine…”
Tori’s Veal Osso Buco
Ingredients:
4 lb. bone-in veal shanks
2 cans (each 14 oz.) fire roasted, diced tomatoes
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups beef stock
1 Tbs. olive oil, plus more as needed
3 bay leaves
3 yellow onions, diced
3 or 4 sprigs fresh thyme
3 carrots, peeled and diced
¼ cup fresh chopped parsley
8 garlic cloves, minced, divided in half
¼ cup fresh grated lemon peel
1/2 cup red wine
1 Parmesan cheese rind
¼ cup demi-glace
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Directions:
1) Season the shanks with salt and pepper. Dredge them in the flour, shaking off the excess.
2) In a deep pan over medium-high heat, warm the 1 Tbs. olive oil. Working in batches, brown the shanks, 6 to 8 minutes per batch, adding more oil to the pan as needed. Transfer browned shanks to a crock pot.
3) Sauté the onions and carrots, stirring to scrape up the browned bits, until the onions are slightly translucent and beginning to brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Add 4 cloves of the chopped garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
4) Pour in the wine and simmer, stirring, until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the demi-glace and tomatoes, chicken and beef stocks, bay leaf and thyme sprigs, increase the heat and bring to a simmer.
5) Add sauce mixture to the crock pot along with the Parmesan rind, covering the meat and simmer on low heat 6 -8 hours until meat is falling off the bones.
6) Remove bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Season the dish with salt and pepper.
7) Prepare the gremolata by combining 4 cloves of the chopped garlic, the chopped parsley and fresh lemon peel.
8) Transfer the Osso Buco to a serving dish or spoon the entrée into bowls and serve, garnishing the dish with a generous amount of the gremolata.
