The weekend cook: Thomasina Miers’ recipes for the Easter holidays

Ifind it soothing to spend a few hours chopping, bashing and mixing, so to me holiday cooking is the very definition of luxury (and much more fun than the regular midweek routine). So here are two dishes with a distinctly Eastery feel: one a slow braise full of sensational spicing, the other a blissfully simple, flourless, lemony pud. Happy Easter.

Braised oxtail with saffron risotto and orange gremolata

The secret to great risotto is to beat the rice as much as you can while it’s cooking. This helps bind the starches and fat, and creates that famous, creamy texture. The oxtail’s flavour improves immeasurably if you make it a few days ahead. Serves six-plus.
Olive oil
2 oxtails, cut into chunks
1 tbsp flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 onions, peeled and finely sliced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
3 bay leaves
1 sprig rosemary
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
Peel from ½ orange
400g tinned plum tomatoes, drained
500ml red wine
500ml beef stock
6 carrots, peeled and cut in half lengthways
For the risotto
150g butter
2 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
500g carnaroli rice
125ml dry vermouth
1½-1¾ litres hot chicken stock
1 tsp saffron threads soaked in 2 tbsp hot water
100g parmesan, grated
For the gremolata
1 small orange, zest finely grated
½ garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
½ bunch parsley, leaves picked and finely chopped
Heat the oven to 170C/325F/gas mark 3. Put a tablespoon of oil in a heavy casserole over a medium-high heat. Dust the oxtail in well-seasoned flour and brown the meat in batches, adding more oil as needed; transfer each batch of browned meat to a bowl.
Wipe clean the pan, turn down the heat and add two tablespoons of oil. Sweat the onions for 10 minutes, until soft and sweet, adding the garlic halfway through. Stir in the herbs, spices, orange peel, tomatoes and oxtail.
Pour on the wine, add enough stock just to cover and bring to a boil. Season generously, cover partially and pop in the oven for three hours, until the meat is falling off the bone; add the carrots for the last hour. Leave the casserole to cool. A layer of fat should rise to the top – skim off the excess and, if the sauce is still a bit on the thin side, remove the meat and reduce the sauce for five minutes or so, to thicken.
For the risotto, melt half the butter in a heavy pan, wider than it is tall, over a medium heat and add the onion and celery. Add a pinch of salt and sweat for 10 minutes, until soft, then add the rice and stir to coat every grain in butter.
Add the vermouth and, as soon as it begins to bubble, add hot stock a ladle at a time. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon and make sure the rice has absorbed each ladle of stock before adding the next. Stir in the saffron once half the stock has been used. Continue adding the stock, stirring, until most of it has been absorbed and the risotto has a light, nutty bite – this will take about 15-20 minutes (you may need more or less stock, depending on the rice). Take the pot off the heat and, bearing in mind that the rice will keep absorbing liquid, stir in the cheese and remaining butter. Season to taste and add a little more liquid if the risotto is too thick.
Very finely chop all the gremolata ingredients. Spoon generous dollops of risotto on to hot plates or bowls, top with a few pieces of the oxtail and spoon over lots of sauce. Sprinkle some gremolata on each portion and serve at once.

St Clement’s pudding cake

Thomasina Miers’ St Clement’s pudding cake: ‘Rich and light.’ Photograph: Johanna Parkin for the Guardian. Food styling: Maud Eden

A deliciously citrussy flourless cake that manages to feel both rich and light. I like it with lots of thick cream. Serves six to eight.
250g soft butter, plus extra to grease
180g golden caster sugar
2 heaped teaspoons honey
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 orange, zest and juice
2 lemons, zest and juice
125g fine polenta
125g ground almonds
A generous pinch of salt
Heat the oven to 160C/320F/gas mark 2½ and grease a 20cm cake tin or ovenproof dish. In a bowl, beat the butter, sugar and honey until light and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time, beating continuously. Beat in the vanilla essence and citrus zest and juices. Don’t worry if the mixture curdles: once cooked, it will be beautifully smooth. Fold in the polenta, almonds and salt.
Pour the mix into the tin and bake for 35-40 minutes, until just set. Remove, leave to cool a little and serve warm with a jug of the best cream you can afford.

And for the rest of the week…

The oxtail ragù makes great leftovers – just take all the meat off the bone and eat later in the week with some creamy, parmesan-rich fast-cook polenta or with spaghetti for a very satisfying quick meal. Leftover risotto makes a tasty snack: roll it into balls, fill with blue cheese, dust in breadcrumbs (or excess ground almonds from the cake) and deep-fry until crisp. All just need a fresh, green salad alongside. If you’ve got lots of oranges and lemons, use them in early spring salads: one of my favourite seasonal combos is orange segments, tiny florets of raw cauliflower and slivers of fennel and apple in a sharp french dressing.