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Archive for October, 2011

Easy Friday Night Pasta

Posted in Food, Italian, Pasta, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , on 31 October 2011| 3 Comments »

We’ve picked up a habit of paying for pasta dishes in Italian restaurants in town. There’s nothing wrong with the pasta dishes but there’s something wrong with paying €10 (or more!) for something you can make a vat of for far less than that. So we’ve resolved to cook our own pasta dishes from now on – starting with this Penne Arrabbiata from Silver Spoon Pasta. You will probably have most if not all the ingredients already which makes this practically free!

Penne Arrabbiata – to serve 4

  • 6 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1/2 a fresh chilli, seeded and chopped
  • 500g tinned chopped tomatoes, drained (we used a 400g tin but might use 2 x 400g tins next time)
  • 350g penne lisce (the smooth sort)
  • 1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley
Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the garlic and chilli and cook until the garlic turns brown. Remove the garlic cloves at this stage and throw them away.

Add the tomatoes to the pan, season with salt and cook for about 15 minutes.

Cook the penne in a large pan of salted boiling water until al dente, then drain and tip into the frying pan.

Toss over a high heat for a few minutes, then transfer to a warm serving dish. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

(Original recipe from The Silver Spoon Pasta, Phaidon, 2009).

Wine Suggestion: Italian wines tend to go with Italian foods as they are naturally high in acidity which makes them a perfect complement to tomato-based sauces. You don’t need to splash out for this dish. We had our favourite every-day wine Il Casolare, an IGT from Marche, which combines Sangiovese and Montepulciano. Interesting and food friendly but smooth and easy at the same time. On offer now in Mitchell & Son for €9.50 – bargain!

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Wild Mushroom & Venison Stroganoff

Posted in Food, tagged , , , , , , on 28 October 2011| 2 Comments »

Venison and wild mushrooms are a perfect match. This is really quick and easy but such a treat!

Wild mushroom and venison stroganoff – to serve 2 (generously!)

  • 200g white rice
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 red onion, finely chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
  • 300g venison loin, trimmed and sliced into finger-sized pieces
  • 1 tbsp paprika
  • 250g mixed mushrooms, wiped and torn into bite-size pieces
  • a small bunch of flat parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped, stalks finely chopped
  • a knob of butter
  • a good splash of brandy
  • zest of 1/2 a lemon
  • 150ml crème fraîche or soured cream
  • a few little gherkins, sliced
Cook the rice until just undercooked and drain. Put it back into the pan, cover with tinfoil and leave to steam.

Heat a large frying pan on a medium heat and pour in a glug of olive oil. Add the onions and garlic and cook for about 10 minutes or until soft and golden. Spoon onto a plate.

Season the meat really well with salt, pepper and the paprika. Rub the seasoning well into the meat. Put the frying pan back on a high heat and add some olive oil. Fry the mushrooms for a few minutes until starting to brown. Then add the meat and fry for a minute or so before adding the parsley stalks and the cooked onion and garlic. Toss and add the butter and brandy.

Flame the brandy and when the flames die down, stir in the lemon zest and all but 1 tbsp of the crème fraîche and season to taste. Simmer for another few minutes but no longer or your venison will go tough.

Spoon the last bit of crème fraîche over, then sprinkle with the sliced gherkins and parsley leaves.

(Original recipe by Jamie Oliver, Jamie at home, Penguin, 2007.)

Wine Suggestion: match with something earthy and not too heavy like a pinot noir or nebbiolo. We drank something very good from Burgundy, a Chezeaux Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Les Suchots 2006 which was at a perfect point of youthful fruit combined with a little bit of age for the wine to mellow and be aromatically expressive. We did agree that we’d opened the wine a couple years too early but enjoyed it very well just the same!

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Ottolenghi Roasted Beetroot salad

Posted in Food, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , on 25 October 2011| 5 Comments »

This is a masterful demonstration of how to balance sweet, nutty, peppery and sharp flavours and the soft, creamy, crunchy and slippery textures. If you want to really show off you can use a mixture of golden and red beetroot, but this dish is just as nice using the regular red beetroot. We wish we could claim it as our own but it’s another gem from Yotam Ottolenghi.

Roasted beetroot – to serve 4

  • 500g golden beetroot
  • 500g red beetroot
  • 80g sunflower seeds
  • 90ml maple syrup
  • 4 tbsp sherry vinegar
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 20g chervil leaves
  • 60g baby chard, baby spinach or rocket
  • coarse sea salt and black pepper
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/Gas Mark 6. Wash the beetroot and wrap them individually in foil. Bake for anything between 40 and 90 minute. Ours came in a bag of all different sizes so we gradually took them out of the oven as they felt tender when pierced with a sharp knife.

Spread the sunflower seeds out on in an ovenproof dish and toast along with the beetroot for 8 minutes or until lightly coloured.

Let the beetroot cool a little before peeling with a sharp knife (gloves are highly recommended!). Cut them into halves, quarters or dice. Mix with the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl. Toss well and then taste: Yotam advises that you should get a clear sweetness balanced by enough salt. Adjust the seasoning as required and serve.

(Original recipe from Ottolenghi: the cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, Ebury Press, 2008.)

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Roasted Mushroom Risotto

Posted in Food, Italian, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , , on 23 October 2011| 1 Comment »

Another cracker from Jamie Oliver. We have posted other risottos on this blog but none quite compare to this one – no doubt due to the copious quantities of butter and Parmesan. This is definitely a weekend dish! It is supposed to serve 6 but we served it as a starter for 8. Delicious!

Risotto ai funghi e prezzemolo (Roasted mushroom risotto with parsley)

  • 1.1 litres vegetable stock
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • a knob of butter
  • 1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 bulb of garlic, cloves peeled and halved
  • 1/2 a head of celery, trimmed and finely chopped
  • 400g risotto rice
  • 2 wineglasses of dry white vermouth or dry white wine
  • 200g wild mushrooms, wiped clean and torn
  • a small bunch of thyme, leaves picked
  • a small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, very finely chopped
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 70g butter
  • 115g freshly grated Parmesan plus a bit extra for grating over
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6.

Heat the stock. Put the olive oil and knob of butter into a separate pan, add the onion and finely chopped garlic and celery, and cook slowly for about 15 minutes without letting it colour. When the vegetables have softened, add the rice and turn up the heat.

Keep stirring the rice as it lightly fries. When is starts to look slightly translucent and glossy add the vermouth and keep stirring.

Once the vermouth has cooked into the rice, add a ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt. Turn the heat down to a simmer and keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and massaging, allowing each ladle to be absorbed before you add another. This will take about 15 minutes but you do need to taste the rice and check if it’s cooked. If not, keep going with the stock until the rice is soft but still has a little bite. If you run out of stock just use some boiling water.

Meanwhile, heat a heavy ovenproof frying pan or tray until medium hot and add a splash of olive oil. Fry the mushrooms for a minute or more until they start to colour, and season with salt and pepper. Add the garlic, thyme and the tbsp of butter and mix together. Put the pan in the oven and roast the mushrooms for about 6 minutes or until cooked through. We discard the garlic at this stage.

When your rice is cooked take it off the heat and add the 70g of butter , the chopped parsley and the Parmesan. Stir well. Put a lid on the pot and allow it to sit for a couple of minutes.

Roughly chop chop half the mushrooms and stir into the risotto, adding a good squeeze of lemon juice too. Divide between plates and sprinkle over the remaining mushrooms and a bit of freshly grated Parmesan.

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An Autumnal Fish Dish

Posted in Fish, Food, tagged , , , , , , on 20 October 2011| 3 Comments »

Hake is a really versatile white fish. It has a meaty texture that holds together when cooked and is also really good value as it’s not as popular as cod, haddock etc. It’s quite mild and so goes well with firm flavours like the mushrooms and sage below.

Hake with mushrooms, hazlenuts and crispy sage – serves 4

  • 100ml white wine
  • 200ml fish stock
  • 100ml double cream
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 50g hazlenuts
  • a handful of sage
  • 250g mixed mushrooms, sliced if large
  • 4 hake fillets
Bring the stock and wine to boil in a small pan. Simmer rapidly until you have just 2 tbsp of liquid left. Stir in the cream, take off the heat and set aside.

Heat the butter and oil in a frying pan and toast the hazelnuts until golden, coarsely chop and then set aside. Next, crisp the sage leaves in the same pan for just a few seconds, then drain them on kitchen paper.

Fry the mushrooms until soft, you will need a little more butter. Season, then tip them onto a plate. Cook the hake in the same pan for 2-3 minutes on each side. Reheat the sauce over a low heat.

Put the cooked fish onto warm plates, pour a little sauce over each and scatter over mushrooms, hazelnuts and sage.

Wine Suggestion: Something like a Vermentino from Italy or Sardinia that has a little more body – 13% abv or more (as some are a lighter style – 11-12% abv – which would be overwhelmed with these flavours). This should be nutty and minerally and will complement the earthy flavours in the dish.

(Original recipe by Sarah Randell for Sainsbury’s Magazine, October 2011)

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Party Lasagne

Posted in Beef, Food, Italian, Party Food, Pork, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 18 October 2011| 3 Comments »

This is our classic party dish – so popular that we have to fight to get a taste when we serve it in a buffet! We’ve just made it this weekend for our friends Nicola and Dave’s housewarming. Just to make sure we got some ourselves we made a little extra for the next day. So for all our friends that have asked … here’s the recipe 🙂

Simple Baked Lasagne – serves 6 but easily doubled (which can easily serve 20 or more strangely enough …)

  • 4 rashers pancetta or smoked bacon, finely sliced
  • pinch cinnamon
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 carrot, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 generous handfuls of whole, fresh herbs (use your own mix of sage, oregano, rosemary and thyme)
  • 400g shin of beef, or skirt, coarsely minced
  • 200g pork belly, skin removed & coarsely minced
  • 2 x 400g tins good-quality plum tomatoes
  • 250ml red wine
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 butternut squash, halved, deseeded and roughly sliced
  • 1 tbsp coriander seeds, bashed in a mortar & pestle
  • 1 dried red chilli, also bashed
  • 400g dried, ready to cook lasagne sheets
  • 400g mozzarella

For the white sauce:

  • 1 x 250ml tubs of crème fraîche
  • 3 anchovies, finely chopped
  • 2 handfuls freshly grated parmesan
  • a little milk

Preheat oven to 180C / 350F / Gas 4

If you are making a double quantity you may want to cook the meat sauce in two quantities as it will be easier to manage unless you have a very large casserole pot. You can also make the meat sauce in advance which makes entertaining easy –  a simple assembly and cook on the night!

In a large casserole pan slowly fry the pancetta or bacon and the cinnamon until golden, add the onion, carrot, garlic and herbs and about 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Once mixed together add the beef and pork and brown for about 5 minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes, wine and bay leaves and then bring to the boil. Wet some grease-proof paper and place it on top of the pan and then place a lid on top of this as well to complete the seal. Cook in the preheated oven for 2 hours.

While this is cooking rub the butternut squash with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and the bashed coriander seeds and chilli. Place on a baking tray and roast in the oven for the last 45 minutes of cooking the sauce. When you remove the sauce check that the squash is cooked and slightly caramelising; if not leave in oven until done.

When sauce is done season and put to one side. Mix together crème fraîche, anchovies, a handful of parmesan and season with salt and pepper. Slowly add enough milk while mixing until the sauce becomes loose and smooth. Don’t make it too runny!

Turn oven up to 200C / 400F / Gas 6. To assemble lasagne rub a large dish, or deep tray with olive oil, lay some sheets of lasagne over the bottom (and drape over the sides too if you are using fresh lasagne). Add a layer of meat, a little white sauce, a sprinkle of parmesan and then top with another layer of lasagne sheets. Make a complete layer with the butternut, topping it again with lasagne sheets. Repeat the meat, white sauce and parmesan layers. Finish with a layer of pasta covered in white sauce. Tear over the mozzarella and sprinkle with parmesan.

Cook for 30-35 minutes and until golden. Watch the hordes descend.

[Inspired by Jamie Oliver: Jamie’s dinners, Penguin 2006]

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Anna Del Conte’s Pasticcio di Penne con Formaggi e Funghi

Posted in Food, Italian, Pasta, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , on 17 October 2011| 1 Comment »

We’ve been looking out for Anna Del Conte’s Gastronomy of Italy for some time now. This is a book in serious need of reprinting – a true Italian bible. The recipe’s are straightforward and authentic and there is an excellent section on the regions of Italy. We snapped this up when at last a second-hand copy became available on Amazon and suggest you do the same if you get the chance.

This is a really nice dish for autumm – a bit like macaroni cheese but with mushrooms. There is no place for calorie counting here!

Baked Penne with Cheese and Mushrooms – to serve 4

  • 20g dried porcini, soaked, drained and chopped
  • 500g fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 50g unsalted butter
  • 300g penne
  • butter for the dish
  • 150g Bel Paese cheese, thinly sliced (we couldn’t find Bel Paese so substituted Taleggio)
  • 150g fontina cheese, thinly sliced
  • 75g freshly grated Parmesan
  • 200ml double cream

Heat the oven to 200ºC/400°F/Gas Mark 6. Sauté the porcini and fresh mushrooms with the whole garlic clove in 25g of the butter over a high heat. Add salt and pepper, lower the heat and cook for 3 minutes. Throw away the garlic.

Cook the pasta according to the pack. Drain and dress with the remaining butter.

Butter an ovenproof dish and cover the bottom with layer of pasta. Spread about a quarter of the mushrooms and sliced cheese over the pasta and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of the Parmesan. Add another layer of pasta and cover with mushrooms and cheese. Repeat this until all the ingredients are used, finishing with a cheese layer. Pour over the cream and season with salt and pepper.

Cover with foil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes, or until a light crust has formed on the top. Settle for 5 minutes before serving with a green salad.

Wine Suggestion: We drank a Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley  in California that our friend Jen kindly brought back from her holidays. There are some great wines being made here that we rarely see outside the US so it was a treat and a really good match for the dish. If you haven’t been travelling we’d suggest finding a pinot noir with juicy, ripe fruit balanced by a lightness of touch – avoid anything too alcoholic or jammy which will overwhelm the food. If you find a nice “earthy” pinot from Hawkes Bay in New Zealand or Burgundy then you’re on the right track.

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Seared Tuna with a Green Olive Salsa Verde

Posted in Fish, Food, Spanish, tagged , , , , , on 14 October 2011| Leave a Comment »

The leftover salsa verde will keep in the fridge and is lovely with meat, fish or bruschetta.

To serve 4:

  • 4 tuna steaks
  • olive oil
  • sea salt flakes
For the salsa verde
  • 10g each of flat-leaf parsley leaves, mint leaves and basil leaves
  • 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
  • 2 tbsp capers, drained and dried
  • 50g good-quality pitted green olives
  • 4 anchovy fillets in oil
  • finely grated zest of 1/4 small lemon
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
To make the salsa verde, drop the herbs into boiling water for a few seconds, then drain and refresh under cold water. Squeeze out the water, then put on a chopping board with the garlic, capers, olives and anchovies and finely chop everything together. Scrape into a bowl and add the lemon zest, mustard, lemon juice, olive oil and some black pepper.

Heat a cast-iron griddle pan over a high heat. Brush the tuna with olive oil and season with sea salt. Put them on the griddle, turn the heat down to medium high and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side so you get nice char marks but the fish is rare on the inside.

Serve the tuna steaks with the salsa verde spooned over the top.

(Original recipe by José Pizarro for Sainsbury’s Magazine, October 2011).

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If you love baked beans you’ll love this!

Posted in Food, tagged , , , , , on 12 October 2011| Leave a Comment »

Tasty beans with really great flavour from the fresh thyme. We’re in full autumnal mode at this stage – though it’s still weirdly warm outside. Serve with the greens below if you like.

Sausage & bean casserole – to serve 4

  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 8 pork sausages (we used chipolatas)
  • 2 celery sticks, chopped
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 tbsp tomato purée
  • 400g tin of butter beans
  • 400g tin of baked beans
  • a small bunch of thyme
  • 200ml chicken or veg stock
  • 2 slices white bread, whizzed to crumbs

Heat half the oil in a large casserole dish, then brown the sausages well. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add the rest of the oil to the casserole, tip in the vegetables and fry for 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato purée and cook for another minute.

Heat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan/gas 6. Return the sausages to the pan with the beans, thyme and some seasoning, then pour in the stock and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat, sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the crumbs are golden and the stew is bubbling up the sides.

(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)

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Italian Style Greens

Posted in Food, Italian, Side dish, tagged , , , , on 11 October 2011| Leave a Comment »

A very useful recipe, especially as you can use whatever greens you happen to have e.g. baby cabbage leaves, Swiss chard, salad leaves like cos or gem or a bag of spinach, watercress and rocket. The rules of play are to blanch the more robust leaves first and then wilt them down in a pan with salad leaves, herbs and garlic until soft. We used a big bag of spinach and some herbs and it was a really good accompaniment for the leg of lamb below.

Ricetta tipica per verdure verdi (Italian style greens) – to serve 4 as a side dish

  • 6 big handfuls of mixed greens, leaves and herbs (see above)
  • olive oil
  • 2 cloves of garlic, sliced
  • juice of 1 lemon
Blanch the cabbage leaves and chard in salted boiling water for a couple of minutes, then drain and leave to cool for a bit. Heat a few glugs of olive oil in a large frying pan and add the sliced garlic. As soon as it starts to colour; add the salad leaves then the cabbage and chard. Cook on a medium heat for 4-5 minutes, moving around the pan with tongs, then add herbs and cook for another minute. Take off the heat and season carefully with salt and pepper, some olive oil and enough lemon juice to give it a kick.
(Original recipe from Jamie’s Italy by Jamie Oliver, Penguin Group, 2005).

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Leg of Lamb à la Périgourdine – Cosciotto alla Perigordina

Posted in Food, Italian, Lamb on 9 October 2011| 2 Comments »

This is the easiest Sunday roast you’ll ever make. It takes minutes to prepare and then all you have to do is wait 5 hours while it becomes meltingly tender in the oven. No carving required as you can easily pull the meat apart with a spoon. Delicious!

Leg of Lamb à la Périgourdine – to serve 6

  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 20g butter
  • 2kg leg of lamb, skinned
  • 2 tbsp brandy
  • 6 garlic cloves
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 leek, trimmed and chopped
  • 1 fresh thyme sprig, chopped
  • 1 celery stick, chopped
  • 1 clove
  • 1 bottle dry white wine
Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas Mark 2.

Heat the oil and butter in a roasting tin, add the lamb and turn until browned all over.

Add the brandy, heat for a few seconds, then ignite and cover with a big saucepan lid or baking tray to extinguish the flames.

Put the garlic around the lamb, add the onion, leek, thyme, parsley, celery and clove, season with salt and pepper and pour in the wine.

Cover tightly and roast for 5 hours. Carefully transfer to a warm serving dish, throw away the garlic and serve with the gravy.

Serve with some nice greens.

Wine Suggestion: Stick to something Italian with a bit of acidity and tannin – either a Sangiovese or a Cabernet Sauvignon would work well. We drank a Rosso Di Montalcino which was lovely.

(Original recipe from Silver Spoon, Phaidon 2005).

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Mexican Food – Queso fundido

Posted in Food, Mexican, tagged , , , , , , on 8 October 2011| 2 Comments »

We were kindly lent Thomasina Miers’ Mexican Food made simple by our friend Jenny and this is our first recipe. Very tasty! Serve with some warm flour tortillas and a green salad.

Queso fundido – serves 4-5 as a starter 

  • 3 ripe tomatoes
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 120g chorizo cooking sausage, casings removed
  • 1/2 a white onion, finely diced
  • 1/4 tsp ground cumin
  • 150g mozzarella, grated
  • 150g mature cheddar, grated
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Cover the tomatoes with boiling water and leave for 20 seconds. Drain and pierce them with a knife so you can peel them easily. Scoop out the seeds and dice the flesh into small cubes.

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and brown the chorizo over a medium heat, breaking it up with a spoon as you go. Add the onion and cumin and cook for 5-10 minutes or until the onion is translucent. Add the tomatoes and cook until most of the moisture has evaporated from the pan and you have a mince-like texture. Season.

Spread the mixture on to the bottom of a gratin dish so that is just covers the bottom. Cover with the grated cheeses and put in the oven for about 10 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbling. Or you can stick it under the grill.

Warm your tortillas in a hot dry frying pan for a few seconds on each side. Spoon some Queso fundido and salad on your tortilla and roll them up to eat.

Wine Suggestion: You could try a Mexican Zinfandel like LA Cetto from Baja California or it might be easier to pick up a Spanish Garnacha which should be medium-bodied – don’t go for something too complex or concentrated here. A beer would work too!

(Original recipe from Thomasina Miers Mexican Food Made Simple, Hodder & Stoughton, 2010)

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Hot Buttered Beetroot

Posted in Food, Side dish, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , on 7 October 2011| 2 Comments »

Here’s a really lovely side dish. Good with roasts or grilled meat.

Hot buttered beetroot – to serve 6

  • 3 medium beetroot, trimmed but not peeled
  • 25g butter
  • 1 tbsp chopped thyme leaves.
Cook the beetroot in a large pan of boiling salted water for 20-25 minutes or until tender. Allow to cool slightly, then peel off the skins – gloves are advisable! Chop the beetroot.

Melt the butter in a frying pan. Add the thyme and cook for a minute before adding the beetroot and tossing to coat in the butter.

(Original recipe by Tom Kerridge in BBC Good Food Magazine, October 2011)

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Red Wine & Mushroom Risotto

Posted in Food, Italian, tagged , , , , , , on 6 October 2011| Leave a Comment »

Woohoo it’s mushroom season at last. Cold weather has its virtues. We always think of risotto as a bit of weekend thing but it’s so quick and easy we’ve vowed to make every night a potential risotto night in future. The perfect mid-week treat.

Red wine  & mushroom risotto – to serve 4

  • olive oil
  • 50g butter
  • 1 red onion, chopped
  • 400g chestnut mushrooms (we used large field mushrooms)
  • 300g risotto rice
  • 350ml dry red wine
  • 750ml chicken stock
  • 3 tbsp grated Parmesan

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil and half the butter in a large, heavy pan. Fry the onions until nearly soft. Add the mushrooms and cook until golden. Add the rice, stir to coat with the oil and butter, and cook for a minute.

Add half the wine and let it bubble, stirring. Add the rest of the wine to the stock and heat gently. When the first lot of wine has been absorbed start adding the remaining stock and wine mix, a ladle at a time, stirring all the time. Make sure each ladle has been absorbed before you add the next. Continue adding liquid until  the rice is tender but still has a bite. Add the remaining butter and the parmesan, cover and let it sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Wine Suggestion: We found this recipe in BBC Olive Magazine (October 2011) in an article by Victoria Moore, drinks expert, who highly recommends a Barbera to go with this on account of it’s high acidity and hence palate-cleansing effects. It also complements the earthy mushroom flavours. We’d agree with that!

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It’s beginning to feel a lot like Autumn

Posted in Food, Oxtail, Spanish, Wine of the Week, tagged , , , , , , , on 5 October 2011| 4 Comments »

Perfect as the nights close in and the seasons change. This is our second recipe from Rick Stein’s Spain and another success. It takes two days to make but is so straightforward that it’s not a chore at all. As we had torrential rain in Dublin on Saturday and Sunday we could not have picked a better weekend to try it!

P.S. you have to like sucking on bones!

Oxtail and Red Wine Stew from Pamplona – Rabo de torro de Pamplona – to serve 6

  • 2kg oxtail, cut across into 5cm thick pieces
  • 50g plain flour, seasoned
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 2 medium onions, chopped
  • 200g carrots, sliced
  • 175g leeks, thickly sliced
  • 4 tbsp brandy
  • 500ml red wine
  • 500ml dark beef stock
  • A bouquet garni of bay leaves, parsley stalks and thyme sprigs
  • 1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley

Trim the excess fat off your oxtail pieces and season well with salt and pepper. Toss in the seasoned flour and knock off the excess, keep the remaining seasoned flour. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large flameproof casserole over a medium-high heat, add the oxtail pieces in batches and fry until well browned. Lift them onto a plate as they are done.

Add the rest of the oil to the pan with the garlic, onions, carrots and leeks and fry for about 10 minutes or until browned.

Pour the brandy over and set alight. Once the flames have died stir in the remaining seasoned flour, then gradually stir in the red wine and bring to the boil, stirring. Simmer for 3 minutes, then stir in the oxtail, the beef stock, bouquet garni, 1/2 tsp of salt and lots of black pepper. Cover and simmer gently for 2 1/2 – 3 hours, until the oxtail is tender but not falling apart yet. Remove from the heat, leave to cool, then cover and chilli overnight.

The next day, scrape the layer of fat off the top of the casserole. Gently reheat, then lift the oxtail into a bowl. Pass the sauce through a fine seive into a clean pan, pressing out as much sauce as you can with the back of a ladle. Discard what’s left in the sieve. Return to the heat and simmer vigorously for 5-10 minutes until the sauce is reduced and is well flavoured. Return the oxtail, season and simmer for 5 minutes to heat through. Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.

Nice with steamed or mashed potatoes and broccoli.

Wine Suggestion: Pick a medium bodied red wine based on Tempranillo and maybe with a dollop of Garnacha to give it extra juiciness. We drank a Sierra Cantabria Cuvée which had some good age in the bottle and 18 months in oak which softens and rounds the tannins. Anything heavier or more tannic will feel a bit too much with this rich dish.

(Original recipe from Rick Stein’s Spain, BBC Books, 2011)

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