Here's an unusual way to use cooked oxtails. The meat is combined with sausage, bread, egg, garlic, onion, and cheese into dumplings which are then cooked in broth. The food processor makes quick work of the mixing process, but you can also make it by hand. You can make these ahead of time and freeze for future use.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 large clove of garlic
- 1 large onion
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup lightly pressed down parsley leaves
- 1 cup, approximately, cooked oxtail meat
- 3 ounces sausage meat (3/4 cup or 3 links) for texture and flavor
- 1/3 cup lightly pressed crumbs from fresh white homemade type bread, as a binder
- 1 large egg
- Salt, freshly ground pepper, and thyme
- 2 to 3 Tbsp grated Swiss or Parmesan cheese
Preparation:
Peel the garlic and chop roughly by hand; with the food processor running, drop it in. Peel the onion, chop roughly by hand, and pulse it several seconds in the machine to dice it. Scrape into a small frying pan and saute slowly in the butter until tender -- 5 minutes or so.
With the food processor running, drop in the parsley, then the oxtail meat, sausage, crumbs, egg, and a modest amount of seasoning. Scrape into a mixing bowl and blend in the cheese; saute a spoonful in a small frying pan, taste carefully, and correct seasoning. The mixture is now ready to be formed.
Ahead of time notes: Two cups will make 3 dozen or so dumplings, and you'll probably want only 3 or 4 per serving. You may freeze the mixture either at this point or after cooking the dumplings as described in the next step.
To use as dumplings: Rapidly take up tablespoon gobs of the dumpling mixture and nudge with a rubber spatula into a pan of simmering beef stock or of lightly salted water; cook at just below the simmer 5 to 6 minutes. Slip them into a bowl of cold water to firm them for 2 minutes, then drain them on paper towels. Add them to warm in the soup just before serving.
Yield: about 3 dozen dumplings
Source: The Way to Cook by Julia Child (Alfred A. Knopf)
Reprinted with permission.
With the food processor running, drop in the parsley, then the oxtail meat, sausage, crumbs, egg, and a modest amount of seasoning. Scrape into a mixing bowl and blend in the cheese; saute a spoonful in a small frying pan, taste carefully, and correct seasoning. The mixture is now ready to be formed.
Ahead of time notes: Two cups will make 3 dozen or so dumplings, and you'll probably want only 3 or 4 per serving. You may freeze the mixture either at this point or after cooking the dumplings as described in the next step.
To use as dumplings: Rapidly take up tablespoon gobs of the dumpling mixture and nudge with a rubber spatula into a pan of simmering beef stock or of lightly salted water; cook at just below the simmer 5 to 6 minutes. Slip them into a bowl of cold water to firm them for 2 minutes, then drain them on paper towels. Add them to warm in the soup just before serving.
Yield: about 3 dozen dumplings
Source: The Way to Cook by Julia Child (Alfred A. Knopf)
Reprinted with permission.
