It looks as though winter has arrived with a vengeance! Here's a mouth-watering something to warm up your soul during this chillyperiod. Let's hope the sun comes out again....

Oxtail Stew with pumpkin and cinnamon

Serves 6

Ingredients

Olive oil for frying

2kg oxtail pieces

200g shallots, roughly chopped

3 large carrots, roughly chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

400ml red wine

650g Italian canned chopped tomatoes

10 sprigs of rosemary
zest of 1/2 orange, peeled off in long strips

2 bay leaves

2 cinnamon sticks

2 star anise

ground black pepper

500g pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 2.5m cubes

300ml water

salt

Gremolata

2 tbsp roughly chopped flat-leave parsley

grated zest of 1 large lemon

2 garlic cloves, crushed

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180º C. Place a lrage, heavy-based pan (large enought to accommodate the whole stew later; there will be a lot!) over a high heat and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When this is smoking hot, add some of the oxtail pieces and fry on all side for about 4 minutes, browning of the meat well. Make sure you don't sear to many pieces at once or they will boil in their own liquid rather than fry. Trasfer the oxtail to a colander and leave to drain off excess fat while you brown the remaining pieces.
2. Remove most of the fat from the pan and add the shallots, carrots and garlic. Return to a medium-high heat and saute, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are golden brown.

3. Add the wine to the pan and scrape the base witha wooden spoon to mix in any flavoursome bits left there. Bring to the boil and simmer until it has almost evaporated. Now add the tomatoes. Tie together the thyme and rosemary sprigs with string and drope them in as well, then add the orange zest, bay leaves, cinnamon, star anise, black pepper and some salt. Decant the simmering mixture into a deep baking dish and lay the oxtail pieces on top of the sauce in one layer (keep the pan for later). Cover first with a sheet of baking parchment, placed directly on the oxtail, and then with a tight-fitting lid or a couple of layers of aluminium foil, then place in a large bowl and leave to cool slightly. If a lot of fat accumulates at the bottom of the bowl, decant some of it using a slotted spoon but keep the rest.

4. When the oxtail is cool enough to handle, pick all th meat from the bones and place back in the large pan. Add the sauce the meat was cooked in, along with the pumpkin cubes and the water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 30 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft. Taste and season the sauce the sauce with salt and more black pepper.

5. To make the gremolata garnish for the stew, simply mix the parsley, lemon zest and garlic together. Transfer the stew to a serving bowl and sprinkle with gremolata on top. Serve at once.

And for the die-hard summer enthusiasts, here is a wickedly indulgent icecream recipe to tickle your taste buds.

Cookies and Cream

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients

4 egg yolks

75g caster sugar

5ml cornflour

300ml milk

5ml natural vanilla essence

300ml whipping cream

150g chunky chocolate and hazelnut biscuits, crumbled into chunky pieces

Method

1. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in a bowl until the mixture is thick and foamy. Pour the milk into a heavy-based saucepan, bring it just to the boil, then pour it onto the yolk mixture, whisking constantly.

2. Return to the pan and cook over a gentle heat, stirring until the custard thickens and is smooth. Pour it back into the bowl and cover closely. Leave to cool, then chill.

3. By hand: Stir the vanilla essence into the custard. Whip the cream until it is thickened but is still soft enough to fall from a spoon.

Using an icecream machine: Stir the vanilla essence into the custard. Stir in the whipping cream and churn until thick.

4. By hand: Fold the cream into the chilled custard, then pour into a plastic tub or similar freezerproof container. Freeze for 4 hours, beating once with a fork, electric whisk or in a food processor to break up the ice crystals. Beat one more time, then fold in the biscuit chunks. Cover and return to the freezer until firm.

Using an icecream maker: Churn until thick enough to scoop then scrape the icecream into a freezerproof container. Fold in the biscuit chunks and freezer for 2-3 hours until firm.

Cooks Tip: Experiment with different types of biscuits to find the type that gives the best

results.

'For us, cooking and eating are not hazy, far-off ideals but part of real life, and should be left there.'

Ottolenghi