On to the second exciting part, the finishing sauce that makes the dish so special.
You
will need
3 to 6 celery stalks, the pale kind if you can get
it - the original recipe uses half a head of celery
A handful of
pine nuts
A handful of raisins
A single square of 70%
cocoa dark chocolate - milk chocolate is all wrong
A nutmeg to
grate
Preparation
First
thing you do is de-string
the celery carefully,
then slice it into half moon segments. Bring a a pan of water to the
boil and throw in a small handful of salt just before you tip in the
sliced celery. Roman cuisine loves celery - called sellero
not sedano
here - so you can put lots of it in. That way the celery is your
vegetable dish and no other side is needed. How small you chop
it and how long you cook it is up to you. Italians like their
vegetables cooked through not crunchy, and would cook medium slices
for 15 to 20 minutes. I usually cook most of mine the Italian way
reserving a handful to add a few minutes before the rest is ready, so
as to have just a few crunchy pieces. One minute before scooping out
the celery with a slotted spoon, throw in the raisins
too,
so that they can plump up a little, but if your raisins are very dry
then soak them in warm water beforehand and skip this step.
Now
it's time to toast
the pine nuts
on
low heat in a dry pan. The traditional recipe does not toast them,
just adds them to the chocolate sauce along with the celery and
raisins but I prefer to use them as a topping - more attractive and
tastier - and they retain some crunch this way. Toast them
patiently and slowly to be sure they are toasted all the way through,
not just too browned on the outside and soft on the inside. They are
ready when you can really smell their aroma.
Warm up the ox
tail and its meat jelly in a small saucepan on low heat until the
gelatin liquefies. Cover and leave on low heat until it is time to
serve.
And
now the sauce!
Take
a small saucepan and in it place a few ladles of the jellied juices
from the casserole but make sure you leave the ox tail pieces well
covered to stop them from drying out, add water if necessary. When
the meat sauce in the little pan is hot, add the drained celery, the
raisins, and one square of dark
chocolate.
Stir
till the chocolate is melted, let it cook for 5 minutes or so and
taste - it should not taste chocolatey.The chocolate is there to
darken and thicken the sauce, and to add a smokey mysterious
something to the meat/tomato/clove flavours. If your sauce tastes
chocolatey, keep cooking it, and if necessary add more of the cooking
sauce from the ox tail. If it seems watery then add a little more
chocolate.
Grate
some nutmeg
- I like lots - and maybe some pepper, then taste and if you're happy
with it, you're ready to serve,
Place one large or two small
ox tail pieces on each plate with some of the juices from the
casserole, place a tablespoon of the chocolate and celery enriched
sauce on top, scatter with pine nuts, garnish
with celery leaves,
and take to the table
Buon
Appetito!
