Pan-fried brill with cockles and oxtail

Crispy-skinned brill fillets perch over meltingly tender red wine-braised oxtail, sweet cockles tumble with wilted monk’s beard. Silky sauce unites surf and turf – rich beef depth meets delicate flatfish, briny shellfish, peppery greens. Serious plate of food.

By Bryn Williams
From Saturday Kitchen Recipes

Pan-fried brill with cockles and oxtail scores D. Rich braise and butter pull score down.
Per serving: 680 kcal, 42g fat (15g sat), 12g carbs (3g sugars), 2g fibre, 52g protein.

Equipment

• casserole dish
• frying pan
• saucepan
• colander
• fine sieve
• bowl 🛒 Check out Amazon’s Choice
• knife 🛒 Check out Amazon’s Choice

Method

Oxtail (Day 1 marinade, Day 2 cooking – plan ahead)

1. Start the oxtail marinade tonight – grab that 1kg oxtail, chopped onion, carrot, bay leaf, and pour over 200ml red wine in a big saucepan. Lid on, straight into fridge for 24 hours. This tenderises the meat deep and builds massive flavour.
2. Day 2 – reduce the marinade first – lift oxtail and veg out onto separate plates with a slotted spoon. Get the wine marinade boiling hard in the saucepan till it’s down to about 50ml – three quarters gone. Skim off any scum floating up. Set aside, you’ll need this.
3. Brown the oxtail properly – mix salt, pepper into plain flour on a plate. Toss oxtail pieces till coated, shake excess off. Medium-hot casserole dish with veg oil – brown oxtail in batches. Don’t overcrowd or it steams instead of browning. Set browned oxtail aside. Same pan, brown those marinated veg golden too.
4. Build and braise low ‘n slow – pour reduced marinade back in, bubble hard scraping all the sticky bits off bottom with wooden spoon. Reduce by half. Return oxtail to pan, pour chicken stock over to cover, bring to boil then skim again. Lid on, oven 140C/120C fan, 2½ hours minimum till meat’s falling off bone. Cool completely in the liquid overnight if possible.
5. Pick meat, finish sauce – lift cold oxtail out with slotted spoon. Pick meat off bones into large chunks (discard bones and excess fat). Strain braising liquor through fine sieve into clean saucepan – press veg hard to extract flavour. Boil hard, reduce by half till glossy sauce consistency. Keep warm, finish with lemon juice, butter, grated nutmeg, salt, pepper just before serving.

Last 20 mins (everything comes together fast)

6. Clean cockles properly first – rinse cockles 3 times in cold water, soak 30 mins in salted water if they’re gritty. Tap any open shells on work surface – if they don’t close, bin them. Big saucepan on medium, add cockles and white wine, lid down tight, blast high heat 1-2 mins till all opened. Chuck any closed ones out. Strain through colander over bowl (save liquor!), pick most meat from shells but keep 8-10 pretty ones with shells for garnish. Keep warm.
7. Wilt monk’s beard quick – deep frying pan on high with splash olive oil, monk’s beard in, salt, pepper, pinch nutmeg, lemon squeeze. 30 seconds toss till just wilted – still bright green. Off heat immediately, tip into bowl.
8. Cook brill skin-side first – nonstick frying pan medium veg oil. Brill fillets in, skin-side down – 3 mins gentle browning till skin crisp. Turn carefully with fish slice, lower heat, add butter to pan. Tilt pan, spoon hot butter over fish constantly 2-3 mins till flesh flakes easy. Keep warm on plate skin-side up.

Plating (1 min)

10. Get 4 warm plates ready – put handful wilted monk’s beard centre each plate. Spoon picked cockles and oxtail chunks around greens. Drizzle oxtail sauce over meat. Lay brill fillet skin-side up on monk’s beard. Boil cockle liquor hard in small pan 30 seconds, whisk in crème fraîche off heat till smooth, spoon or pour over each plate tableside. Serve immediately.

Suggested Wine Pairing

These wines under £12.50 pair brilliantly with pan-fried brill with cockles and oxtail – cut through brill butter, match oxtail richness, cockles brine, monk’s beard earthiness, red wine braise, crème fraîche sauce.

• Muscadet Sevre et Maine (Tesco) – flinty lemon cuts brill richness in pan-fried brill cockles; saline loves cockles.
• Chardonnay Chablis (Sainsbury’s) – green apple acidity slices oxtail fat; mineral spine matches monk’s beard earthiness.
• Picpoul Roussanne Languedoc (Asda) – pear cream echoes crème fraîche sauce; herbal notes lift braised oxtail depth.