Zuppa Osso Buco

Recipe courtesy of NJBride9/06

Veal Dumplings:

1 pound ground veal

1 large egg, beaten

1/3 cup Italian bread crumbs, a couple of handfuls

1/4 cup, a generous handful, grated Parmigiano or Romano

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, eyeball it

Coarse salt and black pepper

Stoup:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pot

2 carrots, peeled

2 ribs celery and their greens

1 medium yellow skinned onion, peeled and halved

Coarse salt and pepper

1 fresh or dried bay leaf

1/2 cup white wine

1 (14-ounce) can white beans, cannellini, drained

1 (15- ounce) can diced tomatoes in puree or coarsely ground tomatoes

3 cups chicken stock, available in re-sealable boxes on soup aisle

2 cups beef stock, available in 1 cup small boxes on soup aisle

1 cup egg pasta, broken egg fettuccini or medium egg noodles

Combine the veal and the next 5 ingredients then reserve mix and rinse off your hands.

Heat a medium soup pot over medium to medium-high heat. Begin to chop veggies while pot heats up: dice carrots into 1/4 inch pieces, chop celery and onion. Add extra-virgin olive oil to hot pot and carrots. Turn carrots to coat them in oil and add celery and onion as you get them chopped up. Work near the stove so you can chop, then drop into the pot. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper and a bay leaf. Stir vegetables and cook 5 minutes to begin to soften. Do not let vegetables brown, reduce heat if necessary. Add the wine and cook for 1 minute. Next, add beans and tomatoes and stock to the pot. Put a lid on the pot and raise heat to high. When soup boils, about 3 minutes, add 1-inch balls of veal dumplings directly to the pot. When you are done adding the veal, stir in the egg noodles. Simmer stoup for 6 minutes to cook noodles and meat dumplings. Adjust seasonings and turn the heat off, then let stoup stand a couple of minutes.