Waiting for the storm to pass

The weather has been miserable the past few days. I have the urge to cook, and it must be something that will comfort me - it must smell good while cooking and when it is eaten, it must warm me up from the inside out. But what would it be? On this night, the smells of chile verde, moqueca de camarao (Bahian style shrimp stew), or split pea soup cooking away are not going to comfort me. I thought of a dish my grandmother used to make, chicken tinola, basically chicken cooked in a ginger broth with some vegetables. There are more versions of this dish than Imelda Marcos has shoes. But I want to cook something more assertive this night. Osso bucco smells good, but I don't have veal shanks. What to do, what to do ...

I had gone shopping a few days ago at Costco and happened to pick up a package of oxtails. Okay... so no one ever "happens" to pick up oxtails - you have to have a specific dish in mind. For some reason I had in my brain and planned to make the oxtail soup that Chencha prepared for Tita in the book and movie, "Like Water for Chocolate".

Tonight, those oxtails will meet a different fate. First, dredge the oxtails in flour. To a dutch oven add some olive oil and heat until it shimmers, then fry the oxtails until they are brown. Remove from the pan. Take some sliced onion, celery and carrots and cook until they are soft, then return the oxtails to the pan. Add some liquid (water, broth, wine) to just cover the meat, drop in a bay leaf or two and simmer. In this case, I have some leftover vegetable broth, chicken broth and wine, so that's what goes into the pot. I make up the difference with water. Cook-cook-cook. At some point I add a can of Muir Glen Whole Tomatoes then made some flavor adjustments. Continue to cook until the meat is just about falling off the bones. Hmmm, it will be ready to eat soon and it will serve up nicely with some smashed garlic potatoes. Garnish with gremolata which is a mixture of minced garlic, lemon zest and chopped parsley.

The kitchen is alive and breathing. Finally, the house smells like a home. It is heaven tonight.