by Alison Drover

I bought some venison osso bucco from Eveleigh Market and had it with some preserved lemons, to give it some bite.  It’s a great autumn dish and keeps well in the fridge over a couple of days - I had it with some left-over green lentils one night and another night with some turnip and potato mashed with oregano.  Terrific!

Osso Bucco

90g Butter

2 medium carrots, chopped finely

2 large brown onions, chopped finely

3 trimmed celery sticks, chopped finely3 trimmed fennel sticks chopped finely

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2kg Venison Osso Bucco

1/3 cup flour, for dusting

2 tblsp olive oil

2×400g chopped tomatoes

½ cup dry red wine

1 ¾ cups beef stock

1 tblsp finely chopped fresh basil

1 tsp finely shopped fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

2.5cm strip lemon rind
Heat a third of the butter in a large saucepan; Cook carrot, onion, celery and half of the garlic until onion is golden brown. Remove from heat; transfer vegetables to a large ovenproof dish.

Coat venison with flour; shake away excess. Heat the remaining butter and oil in same pan. Add venison; brown well on all sides. Carefully pack venison on top of vegetables.

Preheat oven to 180C

Drain fat from pan. Add undrained tomatoes, wine, stock, basil, thyme, bay leaf and strip of lemon rind; bring sauce to the boil

Pour sauce over venison. Cover dish; bake in oven about 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally.

Preserved Lemons

Preserving is a great way of using an abundance of lemons so they do not go to waste

Lemons
Salt, 1 dessert spoon of salt per lemon, plus one for the jar
Freshly squeezed lemon juice - 2-3 if you have them
Juniper berries
Preserving jars

Cut lemons into quarters. Place the lemons, flesh side down, in the jar, sprinkling each quarter with salt as you add it to the jar.

For every lemon use a good dessert spoon of salt, and one for the jar.

When the jar is full, press right down on the lemons to squeeze as much juice out, filling the jar with more slices, again squeezing right down. Cut out a disc of plastic to hold the lemon quarters under the lemon juice. Put a lid on the jar and 6-8 weeks later they will be ready to use.