Oxtail - Sun, April 23, 2006

In attendance : myself, ADC, CC, NT, C and G.
Food : Divided into 5 courses...

1-Flamiche (leek tarte) - Homemade butter, flour, salt and water for the crust. Leeks sauteed in homemade butter, egg, cream, and Sublimity cheese from Oregon Gourmet Cheeses (usually I use Gruyere, but I thought I'd try to put a little local goodness in). Baked to perfection. Quite nice, if I do say so myself...

2-Potato salad - Baby red potatoes, boiled and sliced, drizzled with a mixture of olive oil, sherry vinegar, salt, pepper, and lots of shallots. Also pretty good.

3-Oxtail stew - The main event. I'd been working on this since Wednesday, so I had really high expectations. I spent 5 hours working on it on Sunday alone! More about the oxtail below, on with the meal.

4-Salade - NT brought a tasty salad, several types of greens, some wilted in bacon fat, avocado, tomato, red pepper, and bacon. Simply delightful. Somehow, I didn't get a photo if this course...

5-Tarte au Citron - CC made a tarte for dessert, Palestinian sweet limes, and a crust made from pine nuts. Although it didn't quite hold it's shape, it tasted great, and was a lovely end to the meal.

C and G brought bread (Pearl bakery) and cheese (Cyprus Grove's Humboldt Fog), and made butter (from Norris cream) to go with the meal. Integral addition to the grand scheme...

Wine : Sort of paired with the courses, but a bit looser...

• 2004 J. Christopher Sauvignon Blanc - just to start with as people arrived. We had tried 3 different bottles of 2003 rose that were dead (I am going to have to dump 7 more down the drain that are still in the cellar!!), so Jay's S.B. sounded pretty good, and was already chilled in the fridge.
• 2003 Francois Villard Condrieu "De Poncins" - with the leek tarte and potato salad
• 2001 Tempier Bandol "Cuvee Special" - with the oxtail
• 1999 Chateau de Perron Madiran - with the oxtail
• 2000 Gros Nore Bandol - with the oxtail
• 1989 Prince Poniatowski Vouvray "Clos Baudoin" Moelleux - with the lime tart (This was THE wine of the night. Astounding in it's balance of beauty and power.)

So, the oxtail. Wednesday night, CC and I begin to assemble the dish. Since I am running late at work, CC buys all the ingredients. Oxtail, red wine (I used 2003 Coupe Roses Minervois "Bastide"), onion, cloves, shallots, thyme, carrots, and bay leaves. The mix then goes into the fridge to marinate for up to 5 days (and I do let it go all 5 days).

Sunday at 11 AM, I pull the mix out of the fridge, remove the chunks of oxtail, let them drain. In my grandmother's cast iron skillet, I brown cubes of salt pork, then brown the oxtail pieces. The contents of the skillet then go back into the mix with some new carrots and some salt and pepper. Simmer over medium heat for a few hours, let cool slightly, skim off fat, and the heat up again to serve.

All together, this was a really really good meal eaten with really really good friends. I can't wait until we can all share food again.