Braised oxtail with pointed cabbage and red wine shallots

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 2 kg oxtail, cut into pieces
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 8 shallots, peeled
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 200 ml port wine, red
• 200 ml red wine, dry
• 500 ml beef broth or vegetable broth
• 1 stalk(s) cinnamon
• 10 peppercorns
• 2 carnations
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 shots of Worcestershire sauce
• ½ head of pointed cabbage, stalk removed
• 100 ml vegetable stock
• 2 shallots, peeled
• ½ tsp caraway seeds
• 5 sheets of gelatin
• 30 g sugar
• 8 shallots, peeled
• 20 g butter
• 50 ml port wine, red
• 100 ml red wine, dry
• 1 bay leaf
• Balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp crème fraîche
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp butter for the mold

Instructions

Working time approx. 2 hours; Rest time approx. 8 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 6 hours; Total time approx. 16 hours

takes a lot of work, but can be prepared the day before

Heat the olive oil and sear the torn oxtail on all sides. Remove from the pot and brown six shallots in the remaining oil, sprinkle with sugar, and caramelize. Add the tomato paste, stir vigorously, and deglaze with port wine. Reduce by half, return the oxtail to the pot, and add red wine and stock until the meat is just covered. Cover and simmer over low heat for four hours. After this time, the meat should slide easily off the bones. Otherwise, the cooking time will need to be extended. Drain the sauce and remove any excess fat. The easiest way to do this is to refrigerate the sauce overnight. Return the sauce to the heat. If you prefer a thicker sauce, you can purée some of the cooked shallots with an immersion blender. Add the cinnamon stick, cloves, bay leaves, and peppercorns, bring to a boil a few times, and let stand for a quarter of an hour. Remove the spices and season the sauce with salt and pepper. Remove the fat from the oxtail pieces and shred the meat from the bones in small strands, carefully removing any bits of cartilage. Season in a bowl with salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. Mix in two to three tablespoons of the sauce and let it cool in the refrigerator. Grate the pointed cabbage as finely as possible and blanch it in plenty of salted water for one minute. Dice two shallots and bring to a boil in the vegetable stock with the caraway seeds. Add the cabbage strips and simmer over low heat until the stock has almost evaporated. Dissolve the soaked gelatin leaves in the cabbage mixture and season with salt and pepper. For the red wine shallots, caramelize 30 grams of sugar with butter. Add the peeled shallots and toss briefly. Pour in the port and red wine, add a bay leaf, and simmer over low heat until the liquid has almost completely evaporated. This can take more than an hour! Remove the bay leaf and season with salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar. Grease a baking dish with butter, spread the oxtail mixture evenly, and smooth the surface as evenly as possible. Add another, thinner layer of drained pointed cabbage. Cover with baking paper and weigh it down with a second dish to create a compact oxtail and pointed cabbage slab. Refrigerate overnight. Once you’ve made these preparations, finishing the dish is a breeze. Cut the oxtail slab into portions and transfer them to a new, greased baking dish using an oiled plastic spatula (to prevent sticking). Cover with cling film and heat in a preheated oven to 90°C (194°F) for half an hour. Serve with the reheated sauce and the red wine shallots. For garnish, season the crème fraîche with salt and pepper, and place a cream gnocchi on top of each oxtail slice.