The “Fiestas de las Cruces”
(Festival of the Crosses) or Cruz de Mayo (May Cross) is a holiday celebrated on 3rd of May in many parts of Spain. Religiously, the festival is rooted in the search for the cross on which Jesus died, but the popular traditions connected to the festival certainly originate from pagan traditions brought to Spain by the Roman Empire. The most famous festivities are in Granada and Cordoba. If you can’t travel that far – never mind! You can enjoy the celebrations in the Santa Cruz neighbourhood in Alicante! This month we are going to make two traditional dishes served during Cruz de Mayo, one originating from Granada and the other from Cordoba.
Ingredients
2kg of Oxtail
2 x Garlic
2 x Cloves
1 x Onion
1 x Leek
2 x Tomatoes
2 x Carrots
1 x Green Pepper
2 x Bay Leaves
10 berries of black pepper
1 x glass of red wine
2 x cups of beef broth
Glass of water, olive oil & salt
Season the Oxtail with salt and pepper and brown in the pot.
Remove from heat and set aside.
Dice the garlic, onion, leek, carrots, peppers and tomatoes.
Season with salt and sauté for 5 minutes.
Add the Oxtail, wine and beef broth. Let it boil and then add 2 x Bay leaves, black pepper and garlic cloves. Let it cook for at least 2 hours in a slow cooker. When the oxtail is cooked, blend all the vegetables to make a gravy.
You can also use a pressure cooker. In that case, set on number two and cook for an hour. Enjoy!
