Beef shin and bone marrow stew with chorizo, orange and gremolata

Oranges are synonymous with winter for me, after years of having ripe navels and sevilles in abundance on my orange trees in the Karoo. I’ve used orange, whether juice, zest or both, in beef stews since the 1980s. For me, it’s a perfect fit.

And it’s kind of Spanish too. Which is why my mind also turned to chorizo. And it’s sort of Portuguese, where orange is used to enhance pork dishes, so deliciously. And where chourico is pretty much the same thing.

But this dish is really all about that beef shin. Yes, beef, not veal, which means that it has something in common with osso buco, the Italian dish of veal shin braised with vegetables, white wine and stock, and finished with gremolata (finely chopped parsley, garlic and lemon zest).

Beef, being from a more mature animal, is tougher and needs more time to cook, and it has deeper flavour, but other than those elements (and the lack of white wine) this stew is much the same as osso buco.

I had not realised there was also some bone marrow in this pack of beef shin until I got home and read the label more closely, and then of course opened up the pack. There were three or four chunks of marrow bone, which could only enhance the flavour of the stew about to be cooked.

The orange gives this dish something that osso buco doesn’t have, but I also added one extra element: fresh rosemary. While being aware that this might seem to contradict the parsley in the gremolata, it didn’t bother me. In the end, both were evident in the final dish: the rosemary permeated the stew itself, while the gremolata did its work of adding a veneer of interesting flavours on the surface. Which is what it is for.

I served it with polenta into which I mixed parmesan and gremolata.

Tony’s beef shin and bone marrow stew with chorizo and gremolata

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

1.6kg beef shin, including a few chunks of bone marrow

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

2 large carrots, peeled and diced

2 leeks, rinsed and sliced

2 celery stalks, diced

200g smoked chorizo/chourico, sliced

Juice and zest of 1 orange

500ml beef stock

3 or 4 rosemary sprigs

Salt to taste

Black pepper

12 baby carrots, rinsed and trimmed

For the gremolata:

3 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped

3 Tbsp finely chopped garlic

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

For the polenta:

1 cup polenta

4 cups chicken stock

3 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp finely grated parmesan

3 Tbsp gremolata

Method

Heat olive oil in a heavy pot and add the onion. Cook gently for 2 or 3 minutes stirring, and add the garlic. Cook gently for a minute or two and add the chopped carrots (not the baby carrots), celery and leeks. Simmer on a moderate heat for 5 minutes, stirring now and then.

Add the beef shin and bone marrow, stir and cook for 5 minutes more.

Add the chorizo/chourico, the orange juice and zest, and pour in the beef stock. Add the rosemary sprigs and season with salt and black pepper.

Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, and cook gently until the beef is tender. This will take about 3 hours. After two-and-a-half hours, add the baby carrots and bring the pot back to a simmer.

Prepare the garlic, parsley and lemon zest for the gremolata and mix them together. Two thirds of this will go into the polenta.

For the parmesan/gremolata polenta:

Bring a pot of 4 cups of chicken stock to the boil, add 1 cup of polenta, set it to a moderate heat, and whisk constantly to prevent lumps from forming. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring, for about 40 minutes. Stir in 3 Tbsp butter and 2 heaped Tbsp finely grated parmesan, and finally stir in half of the gremolata.

Once the stew is done, leave it off the heat, uncovered, for 15 minutes for fat to settle on the surface. Spoon it off and discard.

Reheat the stew before serving with polenta and plenty of gremolata scattered on top. DM

Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the Year award.

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.