Veal fillet with oxtail truffles

Growing up in the Bavarian Alps of Germany, Alex Müller is no stranger to rich wintry food. With a hobby cook as a grandfather, Alex was exposed to his first Michelin-starred restaurant at the age of 10.

 

The six courses of small plated portions lingered in his memory. But chefs didn't have sexy associations in Germany at the time - Alex associated them with dirty jackets and the smell of stale cooking oil. So he enrolled in hospitality management, the image of hotel general managers in suits offering preferred appeal.

But then Alex got stuck in the kitchen during a restaurant apprenticeship and everything changed. "Something just clicked and I never left the kitchen," he recalls. After time in Germany, Italy and Switzerland, he and wife Claudia opened Marend fine-dining restaurant in Oberstdorf, Bavaria.

From here the couple were lured to Hout Bay Manor. Alex grew up eating deer in Bavaria, and favoured local equivalents are impala or gemsbok. He loves eating red meat, whether game or beef, consequently his oxtail truffle balls with veal fillet seemed an obvious choice for a dish. "I love oxtail. It has a taste with no comparison.

I like working with braised dishes, particularly in winter," he says. Local grass-fed veal brings in a lighter meat element. "The Môreson Pinotage 2008 is a balanced wine without showing too much oak. Using only a braised dish would kill the wine, which is why I introduced veal fillet."

I'm in agreement. The veal provides a canvas for the crunchy velvet sensations of oxtail balls in a flavour high note. Rich oxtail sauce stands fast against the red wine; mash and pea purée adding a creamy finish. Delicious.

Veal fillet with oxtail truffles
Serves 6

OXTAIL TRUFFLE
1.5 kg oxtail, trimmed and cut
100g onions
50g carrots and celeriac, sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
40g tomato paste
fresh thyme sprigs
salt and ground black pepper
200ml Pinotage
100ml red Port
2L water

OXTAIL BALLS
1 egg
flour for dusting 200g breadcrumbs
canola oil for deep frying

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Sear off the oxtail pieces in a pan. Place in a casserole dish. Sauté the vegetables in the same pan, add tomato paste, then deglaze the pan with Pinotage and water. Add remaining seasoning. Braise in the oven for four hours until tender. Remove meat from the bones and any gristle.

3. Strain the sauce through a Chinoise. Pour half over the deboned meat. Add Port and simmer for about an hour until the meat falls apart and the liquid almost dries up. Pour the oxtail into a dish and refrigerate.

4. Reduce the remaining sauce on the stove and reserve.

5. Before serving, shape teaspoonfuls of oxtail truffle into balls. Crumb in flour, beaten egg and breadcrum

PEA PUREE
10ml extra-virgin olive oil
10g shallots, finely chopped
200g fresh or frozen peas
2g bicarbonate of soda
pinch of sugar and salt
50ml chicken stock
10g butter
Fry shallots in olive oil until translucent. Stir in remaining ingredients except the butter and heat through. Add the butter, then cream the ingredients together with a stick blender.

POTATO CELERIAC MASH
500g potatoes, peeled and diced
100g celeriac, peeled and diced
approximately 80ml cream
25g butter
pinch of salt and nutmeg
Boil potatoes and celeriac in salted water
until tender. Mash with cream and butter.
Season with nutmeg and salt.bs twice. Heat canola oil and deep-fry until golden.

VEAL FILLET
400g veal fillet, sliced into 6 medallions
20ml vegetable oil
thyme sprig
1 garlic clove, crushed
10g butter
salt and white pepper

1. Sear veal fillets in oil at high heat, turning so both sides are lightly browned. Add thyme, garlic and butter to the pan. Remove from heat and rest the fillets.

2. To serve, spoon a ladle of pea purée on each plate and make an indent in the middle. Place a veal fillet on top. Arrange three spoonfuls of potato celeriac mash on the plate. Top each with an oxtail truffle ball. Spoon over reserved oxtail sauce.

Pure Restaurant, Hout Bay Manor Hotel, off Main Road, Hout Bay. Tel 021 791 9393, www.houtbaymanor.com