Slow Cooker Osso Bucco with grass-fed beef shank

We sell beef shank and I had never cooked it myself, so I went looking for a recipe. The ones I found told you to use veal. I refuse to sell veal because true veal is inhumanely raised. They also tell you to dredge the shank in flour and I am not eating flours of any kind, so I improvised and came up with a flour-free beef shank recipe for the slow-cooker, made with beef shank from adult cows. Yes, healthy food CAN taste good! Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 pounds beef shanks from grass-fed cows (not veal)
• 1/4 cup Butter from grass-fed cows
• 2 cloves organic garlic, crushed
• 1 large organic onion, chopped
• 1 large organic carrot, chopped (optional)
• 2/3 cup beef stock, preferably homemade as anything bought at the store will come from factory-farmed cows and have MSG in it. I make my own and freeze it.
• 2-3 diced fresh organic tomatoes
• 1 jar organic tomato puree, or puree your own – about 2 cups
• Himalayan pink sea salt and organic pepper to taste 
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh organic parsley

Directions

1.     Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the beef shank, and cook until browned on the outside. If pressed for time you can skip this part.

2.     Place beef shanks in your slow cooker. Mix together remaining ingredients and pour over the beef shanks.

3.     Feel free to add additional herbs or spices of your choice. A good organic Italian blend would work well here.

4.     If you start this early in the morning – say 7am, use the “warm” setting on your slow cooker and let it cook all day. If you start it around noon-ish use “low” but be careful it doesn’t overcook. Grass-fed beef gets tough and stringy if overcooked. The high setting will definitely spoil the meat. I strictly use the warm setting myself and it turns out amazing!