TURBOT WITH BRAISED OX TAIL AND POTATO MASH
Some fish, like cod or turbot, can be successfully combined with meat, like here - ox tail that is cooked to tenderness. In addition, white fish can be served with red wine, which also suits nice for ox tail. To complement these two, we can add some other richly flavored extras, e.g. potato mash with chopped herbs and some spinach with aromatic vinegrette. Observe that ox tail is a tough meat and needs to be braised for a few hours, so plan this recipe with some time management in mind!
4 servings:
Potato mash:
300 g/10 oz starchy potatoes
50 g/1.7 oz butter
50 ml/1.7 fl oz cream
salt, pepper
chopped herbs of your choice (e.g. basil, thyme) and/or parsley
Cook potatoes in their skin in a moderately hot water until you can stick a knife through them without much resistance, but do not overcook. Remove from heat, drain the water and let them cool down. Combine butter and cream in a pan and let it heat up. When potatoes are cool, peel the skin and mash them, then mix with cream and butter in the pot. Add herbs when the mash is heated through.
Ox tail:
1 kg/2 lb ox tail
40 mL/1.3 fl oz olive oil
2 onions, halved
1 carrot, sliced
1 celery stick, sliced
1 leek, sliced
2 garlic cloves, halved
1 sprig of thyme
1 bay leaf
5 peppercorns
500 ml/1 pint red wine
500 ml/1 pint vegetable stock
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Brown the ox tails in a pan in olive oil and remove from the pan. In the same pan, sauté the vegetables for 5 minutes so their volume gets reduced a bit, then add the ox tail, thyme, bay leaf, peppercorns and wine. Heat up, stir so you remove the browned stuff from the bottom of the pan, and reduce the volume of wine by half. Then add the stock and enough water so you get everything covered, then put the lid on and simmer on low heat for 3 hours. Add water if needed during the braising. When the ox tail is cooked it should be tender and still moist. Remove it from the pan and strain the cooking liquid into a clean pan. Reduce to a thick sauce, skim the surface if needed. Pick the oxtail meat from the bone and set aside, well covered so it doesn't dry out. When the sauce is ready, blend it together with the ox tail meat.
Extras:
200 g spinach
little butter
salt, pepper
some aromatic vinegretter of your choice (3 parts olive oil, 1 part good vinegar, seasoned with salt, pepper; you can use a flavored oil e.g. truffle oil if you wish)
Spinach should be cooked for just a brief time in a hot pan with butter. Usually, 30 seconds or so is enough, just so the leaves wilt.
Turbot:
4 turbot fillets
salt, pepper to season
some olive oil and butter
some chives for garnish
In a nonstick pan with olive oil on pretty high heat, fry the seasoned turbot fillets until they are just browned on each side, add butter at the end and ladle it over the fish. Now, put everything on the plate, and garnish the fish with chives and some butter from the frying pan.