Osso Buco

Apparently people think I have cooked everything there is to cook under the sun. Not really true. I will attempt to cook just about anything that interests me, even if it is hard. But then again, there are plenty of things that come to mind that I wouldn't be caught dead cooking: Fish with eyes, frog's legs, anything slimy to name just a few. Oh yeah, and venison. Don't get me wrong, I think if people want to go out and shoot Bambi and eat him, that is just fine with me. As long as I don't have to eat it. I'm sure it is delicious, I think it's great that people save money by shooting their own meat, but really, I just don't want to be confronted with the bloody carcass of the food I'm planning on serving. I don't want to debate any ethical points, I am NOT a vegetarian, I have no problem with people hunting their food, I just DON'T want to be involved. I think it goes back to when my mom and step-dad were dating and he brought her a huge yellow-tail tuna from a fishing expedition he had been on. They butchered it in our kitchen sink. I couldn't look. Nor could I eat it after having seen the whole thing laying on our counter. It was a traumatic childhood incident, to which I am undoubtedly giving much more importance than it deserves. I'll bet Mom doesn't even remember that before her new boyfriend brought her a giant tuna she didn't even LIKE fish, but hey, he was very good-looking and he brought her presents, even if they were slimy, disgusting fish. Also, for the record, I do like fish and would eat and even cook one that someone caught, IF they brought it to me cleaned, gutted, and without a head.

Now, I've really gotten off track here. Another friend of mine apparently has a new boyfriend who likes to hunt and now she is hunting for recipes for venison osso buco. Yuck-o! So of course, what does she do? She asks me. You know, that everyone-thinks-I-can-cook-anything thing. I have made veal osso buco once. It was okay. Didn't thrill me. I don't think it is worth the expense and the hours of simmering. But anyway, she was looking for a tomato-based osso buco recipe, so I dug up this recipe for her, because I promised I would. And even if I am going to make fun of you, if I promise you I will do something, I will do it. Most of the time.