Meatless Monday with Vegan Carrot Osso Buco

Hello and welcome (back) to the Miratel blog for another installment of our Meatless Monday vegan recipe series. Miratel took the Meatless Monday pledge as it encourages eliminating meat from your diet one day per week to preserve the health of our planet (and ourselves!). We consider our support of this great movement part of our CSR business strategies as it spreads awareness of the impact of our food choices on our environment.

Every Monday we bring you a new vegan dish to help take the guesswork out of what to make for dinner. On the menu tonight is a playful take on Osso Buco – a classic dish usually made with veal shanks. We all agree that this version made with carrots is far more tasty and kind 🙂 This inventive recipe was a contribution from Top Chef winner Richard Blais to Food & Wine.

INGREDIENTS (serves 4)

• 1/2 pound red pearl onions
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 3 very large carrots, cut crosswise 1 inch thick at the wide ends and 1 1/2 inches thick toward the narrow ends
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 1 tablespoon dried porcini powder (ground porcini mushrooms)
• 1 1/2 cups prepared mushroom broth
• 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. In a large, deep ovenproof skillet, bring 1 inch of water to a boil. Add the pearl onions and cook for 1 minute. Drain and trim the onions, then peel them. Wipe out the skillet.
2. Return the skillet to the heat and add 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add the carrots in a single layer, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderate heat, turning, until browned, about 5 minutes per side. Add the pearl onions, sprinkle with the curry powder and cook, stirring a few times, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the wine and simmer over moderately high heat for 3 minutes. Add the porcini powder and mushroom broth and bring to a boil. Transfer the skillet to the oven and braise the carrots for 1 hour and 15 minutes, turning once, until tender.
3. Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Spoon the carrots, onions and sauce into shallow bowls. In a bowl, toss the parsley with the lemon juice and the remaining 1 teaspoon of oil and season with salt and pepper. Scatter the parsley leaves over the carrots and serve.

This special dish will make a perfect addition to any holiday meal. Plus it can be made the previous day, refrigerated overnight and gently reheated when needed. Serve with soft polenta, mashed potatoes or celery root puree.

If you haven’t already, we encourage you to visit the Meatless Monday website and join us in taking the pledge today. Spread the word at home and at work and promote CSR business initiatives to make your green call centre, office, factory, shop, restaurant or salon even greener.

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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.