A really good menu for Father's day, besides, the robust and masculine flavours are ideal winter fare for the rest of the family to enjoy.
A classy intro to the meal: Mushroom Soup served Cappuccino Style in little coffee cups.
For the main course Oxtail: Start the oxtail preparation and cooking the day before so that one can remove the excess fat easily. A sprinkling of orange and lemon gremolada, just before serving, picks up on the subtle citrus flavour in the dish.
On the side: Polenta and Red Cabbage with Apple. Soft polenta is so easy to prepare in advance and even easier to reheat in the microwave before serving.
Both red cabbage and Granny Smith apples are now at their best. We combined them in this richly coloured, well balanced, sweet-sour vegetable side dish. Red cabbage is the ideal accompaniment to the oxtail. The cooked cabbage keeps in the fridge for up to three days and freezes beautifully. Do also try serving it with chicken and pork.
Our dessert will delight even the most discerning chocoholic. Chocolate, teamed with the first, fresh, juicy oranges of the season, is a marriage made in heaven!
MENU
Mushroom Soup Cappuccino
Slow Cooked Oxtail with Orange and Lemon Gremolada
Creamy Polenta with Cheese
Red Cabbage with Apple
Soft Centred Chocolate Puddings with Caramelised Oranges
Coffee
Mushroom Soup Cappuccino
4 -6 small servings
This wholesome, easy to make soup is delicious served as a starter.
2 T (30 ml) butter or olive oil
1 small onion, sliced
200 g button mushrooms, sliced. Reserve 4 for garnishing
2 T (30 ml) Ina Paarman's White Sauce Powder
3 cups (750 ml) of water
2 T (30 ml) Ina Paarman's Beef Stock Powder
½ t (2,5 ml) Ina Paarman's Garlic Pepper Seasoning
½ cup (125 ml) cream
Cocoa powder for dusting
Preheat a biggish heavy based saucepan over high heat. Add butter, wait until it foams and then add the onion. Stir-fry until the onion is golden, beginning to brown and soft.
Add the mushrooms and cook them with the onions until they start releasing water. Add the White Sauce Powder and cook for another minute while stirring.
Add the water, Beef Stock and Garlic Pepper Seasoning. Turn the heat right down, put a lid on the saucepan and simmer very slowly for 15-20 minutes. Liquidise until smooth.
TO SERVE
Slice the remaining 4 mushrooms very finely.
Dish the soup into small coffee cups.
Whip the cream.
Top each cup of soup with a spoonful of whipped cream and 'stand' one or two best mushroom slices up in the cream. Dust with cocoa powder.
Serve straight away.
Slow Cooked Oxtail with Orange and Lemon Gremolada
Serves 4-5
One cannot let the winter pass without preparing oxtail a couple of times! This delicious stew can be cooked in a very slow oven, or in a slow cooker. Best made the day before.
2T (30ml) flour
2t (10ml) Ina Paarman's Garlic Pepper
1t (5ml) Ina Paarman's Meat Spice
2T (30ml) canola oil
1T (15ml) butter
1.25kg oxtail - trimmed of excess fat
2 onions, chopped
1 large carrot, scraped and sliced into rings
2 sticks of celery - finely sliced
½ cup (125ml) red wine
1 cup (250ml) beef stock (use either 2t (10ml) of Ina Paarman's Beef Stock Powder to 1 cup (250ml) of water)
1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
4T (60ml) Ina Paarman's Tomato Pesto
1T (15ml) orange marmalade (optional)
Ina Paarman's Green Onion Seasoning to taste
GREMOLADA
Grated rind of half an orange
Grated rind of one lemon
¼ cup (60ml) finely chopped parsley
3 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
Adjust the oven rack to one slot below the middle shelf. Preheat the oven to 100°C or preheat your slow cooker on auto.
Measure the flour and two seasonings into a plastic bag, add meat and shake to coat.
Heat a heavy frying pan and add oil and butter. When the butter becomes brown and bubbly, add half the meat and brown it on all sides. Remove browned meat from the pan, and add to the raw meat. It is not necessary to brown all the meat. Add the onions to the pan and brown. Add the carrot and celery and stir fry together with the onions for 2 minutes. Add the red wine - boil fast for one minute to reduce it a little. Add the stock, chopped tomatoes, Tomato Pesto, marmalade, the oxtail (browned and raw meat) and any left over seasoned flour.
Transfer the stew to a heavy cast iron pot with a lid for oven cooking, or to a slow cooker. Cook for 5 - 6 hours until the meat is very tender and falling off the bone. At this stage it is best to leave the meat to cool down completely (overnight is best). Skim off as much fat as possible the next day.
TO SERVE
Reheat the meat. Taste for seasoning. Mix all the gremolada ingredients together and sprinkle over the oxtail just before serving. Delicious with Creamy Polenta and Red Cabbage with Apple.
Creamy Polenta with Cheese
Serves 4-5
You can either make the polenta just before serving, or make it in advance and pour into a pie dish. Brush the top with a little oil or butter to prevent a skin forming. Cover with cling film. Reheat it in the microwave for serving.
4 cups (1 litre) water
2T (30ml) Ina Paarman's Chicken Stock Powder
¾ (180ml) coarse yellow polenta
2T (30ml) butter
½ cup (125ml) grated hard Italian cheese
Bring the water to the boil and add the Chicken Stock Powder or Concentrate. Add the polenta in a thin stream to the stock while whisking with a wire whisk. Cook slowly with the lid on for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Stir in the butter and the cheese.
NOTE:
We are diluting the stock a little because the cheese is salty.
Never reheat food covered with clign film in the microwave. Remove it first and then warm.
Red Cabbage with Apple
Serves 4
This delicious winter vegetable keeps and improves in the fridge for up to three days - it also freezes well. Excellent with stews, roasts, venison and pork sausages.
2T (30ml) canola oil
1 onion, chopped
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced into 1cm x 1cm blocks
1 smallish red cabbage
3T (45ml) brown sugar
3T (45ml) cider or wine vinegar
1t (5ml) Ina Paarman's Vegetable Stock Powder
½ cup (125ml) hot water
1t (5ml) fresh thyme leaves
Ina Paarman's Lemon and Black Pepper Seasoning
2T (30ml) fresh lemon juice
extra thyme leaves for garnishing
Sauté the onion and apple in the oil until very soft and golden.
Cut the cabbage in half, cut out the hard core and then slice the cabbage finely. Add the cabbage to the onions, together with the brown sugar, vinegar, Vegetable Stock Powder, hot water and thyme. Cover with a tight fitting lid and simmer slowly for 50 minutes. Season to taste with Ina Paarman's Lemon and Black Seasoning and finish off with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and an extra sprinkling of thyme leaves.
Soft Centred Chocolate Puddings with Caramelised Oranges
Serves 6
These mini chocolate puddings will freeze very well. We used only half of them for our pudding.
GANACHE
200g dark Lindt or other good quality chocolate (use 150g for ganache + 50g for garnish)
250ml fresh cream
1T (15ml) icing sugar
Place 100g chocolate, cream and icing sugar in a medium micro safe bowl. Warm on 80% power for about 1½ minutes, stirring after every 30 seconds. Whisk until smooth and refrigerate to firm.
CAKE MIXTURE
3 extra large eggs at room temperature
1 cup (250ml) Canola oil
1 cup (250ml) double strength hot black coffee
1 x 650g Ina Paarman's Chocolate Cake Mix
Adjust the oven shelf to the middle position.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Butter 2 muffin pans really well.
Mix the cake according to the instructions on the box.
Half fill the muffin pans with chocolate mixture. Make hollows in the middle and add a generous teaspoon of the chocolate ganache. Spoon the remaining cake mix over the ganache. The left over ganache (about half) must be reserved for later. Bake for ±17 minutes. Leave to cool down in the pans.
CARAMELISED ORANGES
5 oranges
½ cup (125ml) white sugar
2T (30ml) water
Peel the oranges deeply to remove all the white pith. Cut out the orange segments (work over a bowl) and squeeze out all the juice remaining in the fibre.
Measure the sugar and water into a smallish saucepan with a long handle. Place it on a very hot stove-plate and shake and tilt the pot all the time to melt the sugar. Eventually it will turn into a golden brown caramel colour. Remove it from the heat and add all the segments and juice. Just bring to the boil. Leave to cool.
TO SERVE
Warm a knife in boiling water. Cut the remaining chocolate blocks with the hot knife and break into triangles. Soften the left over ganache for 10-20 seconds in the microwave on 50% power.
Spread ganache over 10-12 of the little puddings. Put the remaining ganache into a small plastic bag for piping. Snip a tiny hole in the one corner of the bag.
