The oxtail is now cooking.

I bought a kilo pack last Saturday at The Farmer’s Market and put to it one side in the freezer for a few days. It came out last night to defrost.

This evening I took down the big orange Le Creuset and smeared in some olive oil and put it on a high heat. I cut open the plastic pack of oxtails and tipped them in with salt and copious ground black pepper. Some of them were as big as a fist, others the size of a curled thumb.  They sizzled and browned in the oil for ten minutes. I then threw in a chopped onion and let that cooked for another few minutes before turning the heat down to let it soften.

Five minutes later I tipped in some chopped garlic and turned up the heat before adding two tablespoons of plain flour. I stirred it all round with a wooden spoon and let the flour cook in the oil.

As that continued to cook I brought up from the basement the chicken stock I had made last Saturday evening and a bottle of red wine. Half the bottle went in and was brought to the boil before I covered the oxtails with the stock. Before turning down the heat and putting the lid on I put in two bay leaves and finely chopped parsley.

I will now leave it for a couple of hours until I am ready for bed. I will take it off the heat then and leave it in the basement until tomorrow evening. It will need another couple of hours tomorrow to cook through and we will eat it with roast potatoes.

Settling down now with a glass from the rest of the bottle of red.