Alex Italian Restaurant: Braised Oxtail Tirolose with Gremolata


Serves: 6‐8 people

Ingredients:
6# Oxtails
750 ml red wine
1 bay leaf
2 juniper berries
1 star anise
½ cinnamon stick
2 yellow onions, large diced
2 carrots, cut in 1” rounds

4 stalks celery, cut in 1” pieces
2 plum tomatoes, quartered
½ bunch Thyme sprig
1 gallon veal stock
½ cup olive oil

Procedure:
Marinate oxtails with the red wine, juniper, bay,star anise, cinnamon and a big pinch of both salt and pepper. Allow to marinate for 24 hours.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan. Remove the oxtails from the wine and pat dry,reserve the wine and spices. Brown the oxtails on all sides and remove them to a braising pan. Add the carrot, celery and onions to the pan that the oxtails were browned in.

Lightly caramelize the vegetables, add the tomatoes and the thyme sprigs. Add the wine and spices from the marinade and reduce with the vegetables until almost dry.

Add the cooked vegetables to the browned oxtails in the braising pan and cover with the veal stock.
Cover with aluminum foil and cook in a 300F oven for about 6 hours or until the meat is beginning to fall away from the bone.Allow to cool to room temperature. Carefully remove the meat and the  carrots from the braising liquid. Strain the braising liquid into a pot and reduce until a sauce consistency is achieved. Add the oxtails back to the reduced braising liquid and allow them to re‐heat.

Arrange oxtails and carrots on a large platter and top with a couple tablespoons of the gremolata, pinch of minced parsley and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Gremolata Ingredients:
½ cup fresh breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon zest, (dried out in a low oven)
1 tablespoon orange zest, (dried out in a low oven)

Gremolata Procedure:
Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat, add the breadcrumbs and toast them in the pan over the heat,stirring them occasionally.Once they are fully crisp remove to a plate lined with paper towels and allow them to cool slightly. Mix with the citrus zests while still warm.




Restaurant: – Alex Italian Restaurant, 1140 Rutherford Road, Rutherford, CA
Recipe Type: Authentic
Submitted By: Restaurant Owner
Recipe Author: Nick Ritchie
Source: http://elysewinery.com/blast/oxtail_recipe.pdf