From the menu of ... Park 75 at the Four Seasons Hotel, 75 Fourteenth Street, Atlanta. 404-881-9898, www.fourseasons.com/atlanta/dining/park_75
Q. Some friends and I visited Park 75 in the Four Seasons Hotel for hotel restaurant week and we enjoyed the oxtail ravioli. Is there a way you can obtain and share the recipe? Thanks! -- Dahna Batts, by email
A. A recipe like oxtail ravioli is one to try when you have a weekend to tackle the chore. The oxtails are browned and then braised for four hours before being cooled and shredded. The sauce is a flavorful reduction of the cooking liquid and honey and gets its name -- 5th Floor Honey Sauce -- from the fact that executive chef Robert Gerstenecker keeps bees on the fifth floor of the Four Seasons Hotel in Midtown.
Making the ravioli themselves is time consuming but not difficult. At Park 75, Gerstenecker is not satisfied with just serving a plate of ravioli and sauce. The dish is garnished with diced, peeled tomato flesh, roasted butternut squash and pea shoots as well as goat cheese.
Park 75’s Oxtail Ravioli with 5th Floor Honey Sauce
Hands on: 1 hour, 30 minutes Total time: 6 hours plus chilling time Makes: 20 ravioli and 2 cups sauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
5 pounds oxtails, cut into 4-inch pieces
Salt and pepper
1 stalk celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, crushed
4 sprigs thyme
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
2 cups red wine
4 quarts beef stock
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1 cup fresh goat cheese (about 8 ounces), divided
1/2 cup honey
1 pound fresh pasta sheets
1 egg, beaten
To make the filling, heat oil in a large saucepan over high heat until very hot. Season oxtails with salt and pepper and brown on all sides, about 20 minutes total. Do not crowd pan. Remove oxtails as they brown. When all oxtails are brown, add celery, carrots, onion, garlic and thyme and sauté until brown, about 4 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and scrape bottom of pan. Add red wine and reduce mixture by half, about 5 minutes. Add stock and barbecue sauce and then return oxtails to pan. Cover and cook 4 hours on a low simmer.
When meat has cooked, remove oxtails from liquid and cool. Pull meat and discard bones. Combine meat with goat cheese and season to taste. Refrigerate. Strain braising liquid and add honey; boil down to reduce liquid by half, about 15 minutes. This will be your sauce. When the liquid is reduced, cool and refrigerate. When the sauce is cold, scrape fat from surface and discard. There will be a sizeable amount of fat.
To make the ravioli, lay out pasta sheets and cut into 4-inch squares. Brush edges with beaten egg. Spoon 2 tablespoons filling onto each square. Place another sheet of pasta on top of the filling. Carefully remove all air bubbles and seal edges of pasta. Arrange on a baking sheet lined with lightly floured parchment. When all ravioli are made, lightly cover and set aside. Can be made up to 1 hour in advance.
When ready to cook, bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Cook ravioli until tender, about 5 minutes. Do not crowd pan. In a large saucepan, heat reserved sauce and as ravioli are cooked, add them to the sauce and toss. Serve hot garnished with the remainder of the goat cheese.
Per serving (4 ravioli with sauce): 927 calories (percent of calories from fat, 38), 54 grams protein, 85 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 37 grams fat (15 grams saturated), 240 milligrams cholesterol, 4,329 milligrams sodium.
Is there a recipe from a metro Atlanta restaurant you'd like to make at home? Tell us and we'll try to get it. We'll also test it and adapt it for the home kitchen. Because of volume, we can't answer all inquiries. Send your request, your address and phone number to fromthemenu@gmail.com and put "From the menu of” and the name of the restaurant in the subject line.
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