RECIPE: Oxtail soup

I large oxtail, cut into pieces
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 small onions, sliced
6 cups water
2/3 cups red wine
Bouquet garnish
6 black peppercorns, crushed a bit
½ teaspoon dried leaf thyme
4 whole cloves
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp corn flour

Watercress Dumplings:
1 cup self-rising flour
½ teaspoon salt
Pinch mixed dried leaf herbs
2 oz shredded suet
1 bunch watercress, trimmed
And finely chopped
1 small egg, beaten
1 tablespoon water
Chicken stock for cooking dumplings

Sift the flour into a medium size bowl. Mix in salt, herbs, suet and watercress. Add egg and water and mix to dough. Roll dough in 24 balls. In a large saucepan, bring stock to a boil and drop dumplings into stock, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, remove dumplings from stock and add soup to serve.

1. Wash oxtail and trim off any fat and heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the oxtail and fry until brown. Remove the oxtail and cook vegetables in oil until they begin to brown.

2. Add the oxtail, water, wine, bouquet garni, peppercorns, thyme and cloves. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil, skimming off any scum. Cover and simmer over a low heat for 3 hours. If you have a slow cooker also known as a crock pot, this will do very nicely.

3. When done, remove oxtail and cool. Remove meat from the bones, discarding the gristle and strain soups through a sieve set over a bowl. Add the oxtail meat to the stock.

4. Prepare dumplings and for making parsley dumplings substitute 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley for watercress.

5. Begin to reheat soup in a small bowl, blend the cornflour with a small amount of water. Stir the cornflour and cayenne pepper into the soup. Season again with salt and pepper and if necessary, adjust accordingly.

6. When the soup simmers, drop in the dumplings and cover and cook for about 20 minutes or until dumplings are done.