BRAISED OXTAIL WITH SPRING CARROTS

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 4 hours

Serves 4

Slow cooking isn’t just for winter, especially when you lighten up the dish with a little touch of spring. I remember back when I worked at The Ivy, we used to sell as much shepherd’s pie in the summer as the winter. You can garnish this with peas and beans when the British ones come into season, or even scatter some asparagus on top.

INGREDIENTS

– 2kg oxtail

– 2 medium carrots

– 1 small or half a large leek

– 1 stick of celery

– 3 tbsp plain flour

– 2 tbsp vegetable oil, for roasting

– 2 tsp tomato purée

– 200ml red wine

– 2 litres of beef stock (a couple good cubes will do)

– ½ bulb of garlic

– 1 bay leaf

– a few sprigs of thyme

– 12 black peppercorns For the garnish – 12-16 small spring carrots, scrubbed

– a good knob of butter

– 1 tbsp chopped parsley

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas mark 7. Trim the oxtail of any fat and cut into pieces at the joints. Peel and roughly chop the carrots; trim, roughly chop and wash the leek; roughly chop the celery.

Season and dust the pieces of oxtail with a tablespoon or so of the flour. Put a roasting tray in the oven with the oil for 6-8 minutes, then add the pieces of oxtail and vegetables and roast for about 25-30 minutes until they are nicely coloured.

Remove from the oven on to the stove on a low heat and stir in the rest of the flour and tomato purée, then gradually add the red wine and stock and bring to a simmer.

Transfer to a thick-bottomed pan and add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to the boil and simmer gently with a lid on for about 2-2 ½ hours until the oxtail is beginning to fall off the bone (this may take a little longer). You can do this in a medium oven if you wish.

Place a colander over a bowl large enough to catch all of the cooking liquor. Pour the meat, vegetables and liquor carefully into the colander and leave to drain and cool a little.

Strain the sauce through a fine-meshed sieve back into the pan. The sauce should be fairly thick, enough to coat the oxtail.

If not, simmer until it thickens, then put the pieces of oxtail into the sauce, removing any bits of the vegetables etc, and keep warm on a low heat. You could do all of this in advance and reheat the braise when your guests arrive.

Cook the spring carrots for a few minutes in salted water until tender then drain and return to the pan with the butter and parsley.

To serve, re-season the sauce if necessary, then transfer the pieces of oxtail to warmed serving plates, spoon some of the sauce over and scatter the carrots on top.