Provençal stifado

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 2 kg leg slice(s) (ox leg slices)
• 1 kg shallot(s)
• 1 ½ liters dry white wine
• 1 tbsp, heaped tomato paste
• 6 cloves garlic, approx., to taste, chopped
• 1 tbsp, heaped cardamom, dry roasted, finely ground
• 2 oranges (organic)
• 300 g olives, green with stone, best quality
• Salt and pepper, white from the mill
• 1 tbsp, heaped Dijon mustard
• 1 baguette(s)
• possibly flour butter, if required

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Total time approx. 3 hours

Remove the meat from the bones and cut into large cubes (approx. 3 cm per side). Brown the meat cubes and bones in a pan over high heat until dark brown all over. Then add the chopped garlic and cook for 1/2 minute. Add the tomato paste and continue cooking for 1 minute. Deglaze with a little wine and transfer the meat and bones to a suitable pot. Now fry the shallots well and add them to the pot with the meat. Then pour in the remaining wine; the meat should be well coated! Season with salt and cardamom (first add only half the cardamom). Taste after 1/2 hour of cooking and add more cardamom if desired. Now peel the oranges thinly, leaving the white part intact, but do not grate it! Add the peel to the stifado. Then squeeze out the juice and add it. Simmer gently for about 1 hour. As soon as the meat is tender, remove the pot from the heat. What makes this stifado special is the spice combination of cardamom, garlic, and orange peel. It’s crucial to taste the cardamom, but not let the orange peel overpower the flavor. So keep tasting, and if the orange flavor becomes too intense, remove the peel! To make it easier to remove the peel, cut off as large pieces as possible! When the flesh is tender, add the olives. Do not let it boil any longer! Season with pepper and Dijon mustard, if desired. The sauce should be thick. If not, add a little butter while it’s cooking. This goes best with fresh baguette and a good, dry white wine.