INGREDIENTS
- 1.2 kg (2.7 lb) oxtail
- 1.3 lt water
- 3 large, ripe tomatoes
- 15 g sea salt (preferably fleur de sel or rock salt)
- 2 g black peppercorns
- 0.5 g nutmeg
- 1 dash Ceylon cinnamon
- 0.5 g turmeric root
- 3 large garlic cloves
- 1 dash whole black peppercorns
- 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 300 g hylopitaki (Greek type of pasta)
- 80 g grated, dried Myzithra (hard white cheese)
- 50 ml garlic-infused olive oil
PREPARATION
Ask your butcher to cut the oxtail for a stew. One day prior to cooking, prepare the garlic-infused olive oil: add 4 crushed garlic cloves to 50 ml of olive oil. Use a glass bottle for this process.
Grind the black peppercorns and the nutmeg in a mortar. Save the dash of peppercorns to use it later on. Add the sea salt to the mortar to mix it with the spices. Add the scented salt to the pieces of oxtail one hour before cooking (until the oven is preheated). It’s best to season the oxtail after you place it inside the cooking vessel.
After seasoning, pour the garlic-infused olive oil over the pieces. A few minutes before cooking, add the tomatoes that you have blended in the blender. Add the garlic cloves, thinly sliced, a dash (0.5 g) of whole black peppercorns, a dash of Ceylon cinnamon, and the turmeric root (0.5 g). Lastly, add the water and place the cooking vessel in the indirect wood-fired oven.
COOKED ON Indirect wood-fired oven
COOKING
Before preparing your ingredients, preheat the indirect wood-fired oven. Place thin pieces of dry hardwood in the fire chamber, on top of the kindling. Then, add thicker pieces of wood and initiate fire. Wait until the oven’s temperature reaches 200⁰C (392⁰F) and the fire has burnt down to embers. Place the clay pot with the stew in the indirect wood-fired oven and slow-cook for approximately 3 hours. The oxtail needs a long time to cook and soften. Its collagen needs time to break down into rich, sticky gelatin, which will make your stew incredibly delicious.
After three hours, remove the clay pot from the oven. Add 300 g of pasta (we added hylopitaki, a Greek type of pasta) and 80 g of grated dried Myzithra. Mix well and place the clay pot back in the oven for 10 more minutes, until the pasta is cooked. When it’s done, remove the clay pot from the indirect wood-fired oven, and wait for 10-15 minutes before removing the lid. Serve it warm and combine it with fine red wine. Enjoy this delicious dish with your friends.
Happy cooking with your friends! A good company is the most important factor for success.
