OXTAIL - RABO DE TORO

This is a truly typical Spanish dish. Very humble, and yet fierce, as it used to be made in the past with the tails of fighting bulls. Spanish food at its very best. If you are lucky to be in Andalucia you should go to Cordoba to try this dish. It is a beautiful town with one of the most stunning mosques in the world (though my favourite mosque is still the Great Mosque in Damascus) and the best 'salmorejo' and 'rabo de toro' in the whole of Spain.

You need:
- 2 kg of oxtail (chopped in thick chunks)
- a large onion (in big chunks)
- two clove of garlic (whole)
- 2 carrots (in 2 cm chunks)
- a red pepper ( in chucks)
- a stick of celery (in chunks as well)
- 2 bay leaves
- 700 ml red wine
- 300 ml water
- a quarter of a teaspoon of parsley
- salt
- plain flour
- olive oil

Salt the ox tail and dust it well with the plain flour. Heat a pan with a generous amount of olive oil over medium heat and fry the oxtail on all sides until it gets golden (this should take 3-4 minutes). Reserve it.

In a deep pan, put the same oil that you have used to fry the oxtail (I normally get rid of half the amount as otherwise the dish is very heavy) and add the onion, celery, carrots, pepper and garlic. Let the vegetables fry. After 10 minutes, add the oxtail and then the wine, water, parsley, bay leaves and a bit more salt. Increase the heat to maximum, wait until it starts boiling and then lower the heat to minimum. Let it simmer for 3.30 hours.

I usually let the dish rest overnight so that the fat solidifies at the top and it is then easy to get rid of it. However if you do not mind fat then eat it as such (the more fat, the more flavour…).

Take the oxtail off the pan. Put all the vegetables and sauce in a blender so that you get a very thick sauce.

Best way to eat this is with fried cubed potatoes.