Oxtail Stew

Ingredients

Serves 12

3 large onions

2 sticks celery

125ml extra virgin olive oil

115g shelled walnuts

4 kg oxtail cut into 5 cm pieces

Salt

Freshly-ground black pepper

Plain flour

100g butter

500ml red wine

4 cloves garlic

10 stems parsley

2 sprigs thyme

2 bay leaves

500g fresh or canned seeded, peeled tomatoes

1-2 litres veal stock

4 strips orange zest

40 black olives

125 ml red-wine vinegar

4 tablespoons sugar

Parsley to garnish about 1 tablespoon chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 220C. 

Chop the onions and celery and toss with a little of the olive oil in a baking dish, then roast for 20 minutes until caramelized.

Dry-roast the walnuts in the oven on a baking tray for 6 minutes, then rub their skins off with a clean tea towel and set aside.

Trim the oxtail of any fat. Toss the meat in seasoned flour and shake off the excess. In a heavy-based frying pan, brown the oxtail in batches in the remaining olive oil and butter. Put each batch into a large, heavy-based casserole. 

Deglaze the frying pan with the wine to take up all the caramelized bits from the browning. Mince the garlic and add it with the onion, celery, herbs and tomatoes to the deglazed pan and reduce it a little, then tip the lot into the casserole. Add the veal stock, just enough to cover the bones, and simmer, covered, until tender. This could take 3-4 (or possibly 5) hours. Maggie used a slow-cooker (crock-pot) and cooked it for 8 hours.

Strain the cooking juices from the meat and remove as much fat as possible from the top. Set the meat aside in a warm place. 

In a stainless steel (or enameled) saucepan, combine the red-wine vinegar and sugar and boil until the vinegar has evaporated and the sugar has caramelized.

In a heavy based pan, add the cooking juices, orange zest and olives. Reduce this (by about a third), then add the caramel to taste, a little at a time. Pour the sauce mixture over the cooked oxtail. Sprinkle with roasted walnuts and parsley.

Serve with mashed potato, polenta or pasta.