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.