For our seventh contest in our yearlong series of monthly Grantourismo HomeAway Holiday-Rentals competitions we asked you to create a mouthwatering, food-focused blog post, inspired by our series on The Dish, about the quintessential dish of a place. Our September winners are…
FIRST PRIZE A stay at a HomeAway Holiday-Rentals property anywhere in the world valued at UK£500/US$750, a Viator tour voucher worth £100/US$150, and an Olympus FE-4040 compact camera worth £125/US$190, goes to Kathy of Food Lover’s Odyssey for The Dish from Rome: Braised Oxtail, Coda alla Vaccinara.
SECOND PRIZE A Context tour voucher worth US$100 and a private half-day tour with a local guide anywhere in the world from Our Explorer goes to Jonathan of Around Britain with a Paunch for his post on Spaghetti alla Bottarga.
THIRD PRIZE an annual subscription to AFAR magazine goes to Raquel of Bocados y Viajes for her post on Hiroshima’s Okonomiyaki.
And this month, we have an additional THIRD PRIZE, as Lauren of Sean and Lauren, who won third prize in June’s Competition has said she’s unable to accept her prize as she’s continually travelling and has asked us to donate her subscription to the fourth highest scorer in our next competition, which is (once again!) Jiffer of Smash and Sniff for Afghan Heirlooms.
Congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone who entered. Details for October’s competition will be posted next. Here’s the winning September post. We haven’t posted all of Kathy’s mouthwatering images, so click through to her blog to drool over those.
The Dish from Rome: Braised Oxtail – Coda alla Vaccinara
By Kathy of Food Lover’s Odyssey (That’s Kathy’s photos above!)
Much of the food of Rome is based on cucina povera. Offal, the quinto quarto, is a huge part of this cuisine. The quinto, “fifth” quarter of the animal, includes the “lesser” cuts and the innards. Rich folks took the premier cuts of meat. The poor, making due with what was left, cooked the hell out of these pieces, establishing the cuisine of Rome that still thrives today.
They caressed the flavours from these tough unwanted pieces into dishes as rich as Rome’s history, with layers of flavours running as deep as the ancient cities lying below Rome.
Coda alla Vaccinara (braised oxtail) is one of these dishes. The tail is slowly cooked, tenderizing the meat, and releasing flavors from the tailbone that give the dish an intense meatiness.
One August afternoon, I chatted with the chef at Capo di Ferro in Trastevere about La Coda. I had their version, served as a rich ragu with rigatoni. I became an instant fan. Over an after-lunch limoncello, the chef told me how he makes it, emphasizing that a main ingredient is patience.
“The dish requires four hours to cook and a lot of stirring,” he warned. Well, Rome wasn’t built in a day, so a truly Roman dish should take some time.
This recipe is adapted from Capo di Ferro’s Rigatoni alla Vaccinara. It’s delicious by itself, but also a great ragu for pasta.
Roman-Style Braised Oxtail
(serves 4)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 pounds oxtail, cut into 2-inch sections
1 tablespoon salt
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1/2 carrot, cubed
2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
1/2 cup red wine
28 ounces tomatoes, peeled and chopped
About 3 cups beef stock
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 cloves
In a heavy-bottom saucepot, heat the olive oil. Season the oxtail pieces with salt, browning each side of the pieces. Remove; set aside. Add the onions and a pinch of salt to the pan. Sweat the onions until they are translucent, 5 minutes. Add the carrots, cooking until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the celery and garlic. Cook 3 minutes more. Add the oxtail pieces back to the pot. Deglaze with the wine over high heat, cooking about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes; bring to a boil. Continue boiling to cook off some of the tomato water. Add the beef stock just to cover the meat, then the pepper and cloves. Bring to a boil. Once it boils, lower the heat to simmer, cover with a circle of parchment paper, and cook for 4 hours (stirring occasionally).
Once the oxtail is tender, remove the pieces to a serving dish. Cover with aluminum foil; set aside. Strain the sauce, pressing down on the vegetables to extract all the juices. Skim all the fat off the top, and pour into a smaller saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook, reducing by 1/4. Taste for seasoning. Pour the sauce over the oxtail and serve. Buon Appetito!
6 comments
Heather says:
October 7, 2010 at 6:48 am (UTC 11 )
Congrats everyone! The oxtail ragu sounds delicious.
Nicole says:
October 7, 2010 at 7:01 am (UTC 11 )
Congratulations to all the winners! Lovely writing, fantastic photos, awesome dishes.
Lisa Bergren says:
October 7, 2010 at 7:55 am (UTC 11 )
Yummo. I’m suddenly salivating for this dish…and wishing I was in Roma. Congrats, all!
Food Lover Kathy says:
October 7, 2010 at 8:52 am (UTC 11 )
Thank you very much Lara, Terence and Home Away Holiday-Rentals. I’m really honored, and was so excited to hear. Congratulations to the other winners: Jonathan, Raquel, Lauren and Jiffer!
Jen Laceda says:
October 7, 2010 at 10:00 am (UTC 11 )
Congratulations, everyone! This is inspiring me to join the next round in October!
Jonathan says:
October 7, 2010 at 12:44 pm (UTC 11 )
Thank you so much. I’m thrilled. And enormously well done to Kathy, Raquel, Sean and Lauren.
Top stuff.