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Recipe:

Ox-tail alla vaccinara

Ingredients

• 1 pigs trotter, small onion, celery stick, black peppercorn, bay leaf
• Olive oil
• Lard or ham fat
• Large amount of chopped parsley (6 tablespoons)
• 3 cloves garlic
• Large chopped red onion
• 2 chopped carrots
• 1.5 kg ox-tail, cut into pieces
• Seasoned flour
• Bottle good quality red wine
• Large tin chopped italian tomatoes
• Bayleaf
• 2 celery sticks coarsely chopped
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Grated lemon rind

instructions

Let's start with the pig trotter! Place the trotter in a pan with cold water and add the small onion,
celery stick, black peppercorns and bay leaf. Heat to just below boiling, reduce the heat and
allow to simmer for an hour and a half. Skim the pot as necessary. Remove the trotter after
1.5 hours, allow to cool until you can remove the bones and then slice into 1.5cm strips.

Season some flour with salt and black pepper, now coat the ox-tails and the cooked pig trotter
strips in the seasoned flour.

Take a large, heavy-bottomed pot and heat the lard or ham fat and brown the ox-tails and pig
trotterstrips over a fairly high heat. Drain and set aside.

In the same pot fry the parsley,onion, garlic and carrot over a medium heat for 10 minutes,
stirring regularly. Add back the browned ox-tails and pig trotter strips. Pour in the wine, a little
of the  water used to cook the pig trotter (enough to cover the meat), add the tinned tomatoes
and a bay leaf. Place the lid on the pot and cook for a minimum of 2 hours over a medium/low
heat. Turn the ox-tails every 30 minutes to ensure even cooking.

After 2 hours add the roughly chopped celery and cook for a further 45 minutes. Check the meat
- at this stage it should be falling off the bone. If necessary cook a little longer, but the meat should
be very tender.

Allow the dish to cool completely. Pour off all the sauce and remove as much of the fat from the
sauce as possible. Remove and set aside the deliciously soft carrots and celery. Reduce the sauce
to thicken a little. Take the ox-tail and remove the bone and the cartelage from the top, placing the
meat back into the sauce along with the carrots and celery.

Check for seasoning, and season accordingly. Store in an air-tight container or pot for at least a day
-or even 2, before serving. This dish improves immeasurably with age!

Heat gently on the day of eating, and garnish with gremolata (lemon zest, parsely and salt).

Serve either with a wet polenta or as I did with broad, slippery pappardelle - Enjoy

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