Sunday, June 25, 2006
Lemon Sole with Shellfish and Oxtail
Not long after finishing my last post, I was off to the kitchen to prepare a dinner (hopefully) fit for a queen. When he first cooked up his fish dish of pan-fried turbot with cockles and oxtail, Bryn Williams won us over right away. The combination sounds somewhat strange, but the mixture of flavours and seemed at the same time very intriguing. In the end, he managed to win the series with this dish and cooked it for the Queen's 80th birthday celebration. This only made me more determined to try to recreate it. Unfortunately, as per usual with me, I had not read the recipe well ahead of time and had not banked on a marinating time of 24 hours for the oxtail. Slightly disheartened, but still full of anticipation, I got all the ingredients for the oxtail in a pot, sealed it and stuck it in the fridge. And dinner? Well, we had to have salad instead.The new day brought new hope for me to actually manage to cook a dinner fit for a queen: Pan-fried lemon sole with mussels, clams and oxtail accompanied by buttered spinach and baby potatoes. This time I started well early and read the recipe properly right after getting up. I advise you to do the same, it's incredibly complex and far more difficult to recreate than I had anticipated. And while I was not entirely satisfied with the result, I am quite proud to say that I would gladly eat it again.
For the oxtail:
½ oxtail, cut into pieces (I bought a whole oxtail and used a mixture of the very small bits off the very end and the two biggest bits. This way I will have fairly uniform chunks remaining for next time when it will most likely be served on the bone.)
650ml red wine
½ large onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 small bay leaf
3 to 4 tbsp sunflower oil
2 to 3 tbsp flour, seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 litres chicken stock (or 1 litre of beef and 1 litre of chicken stock, if you like a stronger flavour)
For the shellfish:
150g mussels, cleaned
150g clams, cleaned
½ glass white wine
1 small bay leaf
1½ tbsp crème fraîche
For the lemon sole:
4 tbsp olive oil
5 fillets of lemon sole
For the spinach:
2 tbsp butter
400g spinach, washed
salt and pepper to taste
a pinch of nutmeg
a squeeze of lemon juice
To serve:
8 to 10 baby potatoes
The day before you want to serve this dish, put the oxtail in a bowl with the red wine, onions, carrots and bay leaf. Cover and leave to marinate in a cool place for 24 hours.
The next day, about 4 hours before serving, strain the red wine off from the oxtail and vegetables and place in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, skimming off any scum that rises to the surface.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 140 degrees Celsius. Heat the sunflower oil in a large ovenproof saucepan over a medium heat. Dust the oxtail in seasoned flour, shaking off the excess, then add to the pan. Fry until golden brown on all sides.
Remove from the pan and set aside. Add the marinated vegetables to the pan and cook until golden brown. Deglaze the pan with the hot red wine, then cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Return the oxtail to the pan. Cover with chicken stock and bring to the boil. Skim, cover the pan with a lid and place in the oven to cook for 2½ hours.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool. When cooled, remove the oxtail and pick the meat from the bones, retaining the meat in large pieces. Discard the bones. Strain the liquid into a saucepan and cook until reduced by half skimming off any foam, scum or fat that may accumulate at the top. Add the meat to the sauce and keep warm.
Put the potatoes in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Cook until tender, about 12 to 15 minutes depending on size.
To cook the shellfish, bring the white wine and bay leaf to the boil in a large saucepan. Add the mussels and clams, cover with a lid and cook on a high heat for 1 to 2 minutes or until the shells have opened. Drain the in a colander lined with a thin cloth and set in a bowl. Set the liquid to one side. Pick the shellfish from their shells (you can leave a few in their shells for decoration). Keep warm.
At the same time as the shellfish, prepare the spinach. Melt the butter in a saucepan. When it is beginning to sizzle add the spinach. Cook until wilted, about 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, nutmeg and a squeeze of lemon juice. Cover and keep warm.
For the lemon sole, warm the olive oil in a non-stick pan until hot. Add the fish fillets and fry until the underside is brown, about 2 minutes. Carefully turn the pieces over and lower the heat. Cook for a further two minutes. In the meantime, bring the shellfish liquid to the boil and whisk in the crème fraîche.
To assemble, place the wilted spinach on a plate and arrange the cockles, oxtail and potatoes around it. Drizzle with the oxtail sauce. Position the sole on the spinach and pour a little of the creamy shellfish sauce over the top.
Christine at 9:08 pm
