The perfect winter dish for the cold and rainy days

Ingredients:

1.5 kg Oxtail, joints separated and fat removed

125 ml Flour

5 ml Smoked Paprika

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

60 ml Olive Oil

2 Onions, chopped

2 Carrots, chopped in rounds

2 Celery ribs, chopped

750 ml Beef stock

500 ml Good red wine

3 whole cloves

3 garlic cloves

2 Bay leaves

Fresh Rosemary, chopped

50 g Tomato paste

1 Lemon, juice only

Fresh parsley, chopped

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 °C

Mix the flour, paprika, salt & pepper, then dust the oxtail joints with the mixture

Heat the olive oil in a cast-iron saucepan and brown the oxtail in batches until golden brown. Do not burn. Remove from the saucepan and keep aside.

Add the chopped onions, carrots and celery to the saucepan and cook for a few minutes.

Add the oxtails back into the saucepan and add the garlic, stock, red wine, cloves, bay leaves, rosemary, tomato paste and lemon juice to the vegetable mixture and bring to boil. Adjust the seasoning by adding more salt and pepper.

Place the lid on the saucepan and put in the preheated oven for about 3 hours or until the meat is tender and falling off the bone.

When the meat is tender, remove it from the cooking liquid and skim off the fat. Reduce the liquid by half, then return the oxtail to the pot. Adjust the seasoning, if necessary, and add the chopped parsley.

Serve in a vol au vent made from puff pastry (either store-bought or home-made).

Also delicious served with mashed potatoes.