Season the shanks with sea salt and black pepper.
Add olive oil oil to a large dutch oven (6-7 quarts or a large skillet) over medium-high heat. Sear the pork shanks for about 2 minutes each side. Some people flour the shanks before searing, but it is not necessary.
After searing on all sides, remove the pork shanks from the pan and set aside until needed.
Discard the oil from the bottom of the pan if it’s burnt and start with fresh olive oil, but don’t clean out the pan. You want to keep all those tasty bits stuck to the pan for the sauce.
Add the celery, carrots, onions, and garlic to the pot. Let the vegetables cook over medium heat for 6-8 minutes.
After lightly cooking the vegetables, add the tomato paste and simmer for one minute. Then add the white wine to the dutch oven. Turn the heat down and scrape all the bits off the bottom of the pan. After deglazing the pan, add the stock, tomatoes, and tomato paste.
Allow the mixture to simmer over medium heat for 8 minutes.
Add the pork shanks back into the pot of sauce. Cover and place into a preheated 325-degree oven and allow the pork shanks to braise in the sauce for 3 hours.
After three hours, the pork shanks will be fork tender. Gently remove the pork shanks from the pan and skim off most of the fat. Mix the remaining fat into the sauce. This fat will add an incredible amount of flavour so don’t take it all out.
Make the Gremolata by simply mixing the parsley, lemon zest, and garlic together in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
Spoon the finished sauce onto a serving dish or casserole and place the pork shanks on the sauce. Sprinkle shanks with the gremolata.
Serve with creamy polenta or risotto Milanese. Buon appetito!
