Cavalli Wine Estate's Executive Chef, Michael Deg, shares his recipe for Oxtail soup with bone marrow on toast which pairs perfectly with the estates new vintage release Cavalli Warlord.
“Oxtail is a wonderful ingredient, the smell of cooking oxtail is intoxicating,” says Master Chef Michael Deg of Cavalli Estate. “It’s easy to get hold of in most supermarkets and is always a crowd pleaser. This soup is best served on a cold evening with a good glass of full-bodied red wine, the Cavalli warlord is a perfect match to this dish.”
Serves 4:
Ingredients:
300g dried white beans,100g cake flour, 1kg of cut oxtail, 100g smoked bacon lardons, 4 onions thinly sliced, 2 carrots peeled and chopped, 2 celery sticks chopped, 2 cloves of garlic chopped, 500ml red wine, 1.5lt beef stock, 4 sourdough bread slices, 2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard, 5 cut bone marrow bones about 10cm thick.
Method:
Place the beans in a pot of water and let them soak for a few hours, best done the night before, meanwhile put the flour on a large tray and season with salt and pepper, roll the oxtail in the flour until coated all over, shake off the excess flour. Heat a large pot over medium heat then add some regular cooking oil, when the oil is hot add the oxtail pieces and colour until brown all over, remove the oxtail from the pot and place on a tray. Do not clean the pot, keep it on the heat, and add the bacon lardons and cook until golden brown, then add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Sauté until soft then add the red wine, beef stock, slowly add back the oxtail, season with salt and pepper and cover the pot and simmer for 2 hours. Drain and rinse the white beans and add to the pot, simmer for a further hour until the beans are soft and the oxtail is falling off the bone. If there is any fat on the top of your soup, skim it with a spoon or a ladle.
To make the bone marrow toast, pre-heat your oven to 200c, place the bones on an oven tray, with the opening of the bone facing up. Roast for 8-10 minutes or until the marrow is soft, if you pierce the marrow with a knife there should not be any resistance. Let the marrow bones cool down until cool enough to handle, take a teaspoon and scoop out the marrow and place in small bowl, season with salt and pepper. Just before serving pre-heat the grill to high, toast the sourdough on both sides, then rub in the mustard and then spoon the marrow all over the toast. While the bread is toasting reheat the soup, then ladle into the bowls and garnish with picked sorrel and nasturtiums.
Images:
Cavalli Estate
