Oxtail soup with a german influence

Ingredients

• 2-3 lb ox tail bones
• 1 large leek, cleaned and sliced
• 2 medium or 1 large yellow onion chopped
• 2 large carrots, sliced
• 4 stalks celery chopped
• 1 parsnip, chopped
• 2 Tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 Tablespoon ground paprika
• 1 cup dry, red wine
• Salt & pepper
• 4 large cloves garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• 5 whole cloves
• 5 juniper berries
• 1 stalk fresh thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 Tablespoons dry sherry
• 3/4 cup cream
• 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour or potato starch
• Fresh parsley, sprigs or chopped for garnish

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Preparation

• Heat fat in a large Dutch oven and brown bones with meat on all sides at medium heat. Wash and chop your vegetables, no need to peel them - you'll need 6 cups of chopped vegetables total. Remove the beef from the pan, add more fat if necessary and brown the vegetables for several minutes.
• Add the tomato paste and the ground paprika to brown for 1 minute. Be careful not to scorch the tomato paste. Add the red wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up all the yummy browned bits. Add the meat back into the vegetables. Preheat oven to 250F.
• Add the whole spices and one teaspoon of salt and some ground pepper. Add water to completely cover everything, bring to a boil, lower the heat and cover, transfer to oven and walk away for 5 hours. Remove from oven, remove the bones to a platter to cool, allow the broth and vegetables to cool to handle.
• Pour the broth through a strainer and discard the vegetables. You should have 5 - 6 cups of broth. When the bones are cool enough to handle, remove the meat and chop into bite sized pieces. Discard the rest of the bones and cartilage. Refrigerate the meat and broth seperately.
  
• An hour before serving, remove the layer of fat on the top of the broth,turn the now jellied broth into a large saucepan and bring to simmer. Add 2 tablespoons sherry. Add some freshly ground pepper and 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper. Add salt to taste.
• Mix the tablespoon of flour with a few tablespoons of cream to make a thin paste. Pour into the gently simmering soup, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add the rest of the cream and the meat and heat but do not boil. Serve with plenty of crusty bread and butter for a satisfying meal or as a first course.

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