I tend to (mostly) stick to a shopping list when I go to the grocery
store. After picking up the oxtails I noticed they had veal shanks
labelled "for osso bucco" but I neglected to check the price. I'm
rather single-minded at times when I have a list.

Oh well, I need to make the oxtails before I think about veal shanks and
osso bucco.

I saw something interesting in the freezer case, too. Little appetizers
filled with spinach and chopped artichoke hearts, wrapped in phyllo/filo
dough. The combination sounds appealing, but rather than buy a premade
frozen package I think I can find a recipe and make them myself. (I am
not a baker so I won't be making the phyllo shells.)

Something like this, perhaps:

http://www.rachelcooks.com/2013/12/1...-phyllo-bites/

Jill

The suspense is killing me - what was the price on that meat?. Hey, it HAS to work out to be less than the club prices, no?

On 1/13/2014 12:17 PM, Kalmia wrote:
> The suspense is killing me - what was the price on that meat?.

> Hey, it HAS to work out to be less than the club prices, no?
>
I called Publix. $8.99/lb. Sorry, I'm not paying that much for what
appeared to be, at a quick glance, packages of two small veal shanks per
pkg.

This is not the season for good veal (or lamb). The prices come down in
the spring, which is when the lambing and calving occurs. I didn't
bother to ask the guy where the veal shanks came from. I'm not paying
that price for them. They're out of season.

Jill

On 2014-01-13 11:10 AM, jmcquown wrote:
> I tend to (mostly) stick to a shopping list when I go to the grocery
> store. After picking up the oxtails I noticed they had veal shanks
> labelled "for osso bucco" but I neglected to check the price. I'm
> rather single-minded at times when I have a list.
>
> Oh well, I need to make the oxtails before I think about veal shanks and
> osso bucco.

I don't know what things are like there but around here there is a
huge range in veal prices. The last time I made osso bucco I got the
veal at an Italian chain grocery store and it was less than half the
price I had paid at another chain grocery store.
>
> I saw something interesting in the freezer case, too. Little appetizers
> filled with spinach and chopped artichoke hearts, wrapped in phyllo/filo
> dough. The combination sounds appealing, but rather than buy a premade
> frozen package I think I can find a recipe and make them myself. (I am
> not a baker so I won't be making the phyllo shells.)

You don't have to be a baker to work with phyllo. Most people buy it.
I won't shame you for buying pastry like I would if it were a regular
pie shell ;-) You just have to be organized, keep the phyllo covered
with a damp towel and work quickly. That stuff is very forgiving. if
you tear a sheet you can just pretend it never happened and cover it
with another. I imagine you could use a cookie cutter to cut several
circles at a time. You might speed things up by brushing the sheets with
melted butter before cutting, then you could simply set the pre-buttered
pre-cut sheets into a muffin tin and press them into place.

I have done a number of things with phyllo and they always turned out
nicely. About once a year I make Galaktobouriko, similar Baklava but
with a sweet, dense custard instead of the nuts. One I have not done in
a long time is salmon fillet baked in phyllo. Cut sheets to be big
enough to wrap around the fillet, brush each sheet with butter as you
assemble it. Lay the salon on top, salt, pepper, a little finely diced
onion, a pinch of brown sugar, drizzle of orange juice, fresh dill weed.
Wrap it up, butter it and bake it.


> Something like this, perhaps:
>
> http://www.rachelcooks.com/2013/12/1...-phyllo-bites/
>
> Jill