Add more than a little pizzazz to the dinner table

Having been disappointed twice recently by ravioli dishes made in restaurants that should know better - the pasta was grossly undercooked - it seems the right time to bring up a recipe for oxtail ravioli, which is really braised oxtail served along with squares of pasta.

Time also to explain the often-used in recipes term 'al dente'. The meaning of the Italian words is to leave a little texture in the pasta. Basically, you want the pasta to feel a bit firm - but not hard - and slightly resistant (almost springy) when you bite into it. If it sticks to your teeth when you chew it, it's not ready. The pasta should not be hard nor very soft and floppy.

Don't rinse the pasta after it's been drained from the boiling water, you risk losing the starch that will keep the sauce clinging. This is unlike the method for Asian noodles, which are rinsed with cold water and drained after cooking to remove the starch.

Use a large pot so there's plenty of water, pasta expands 3 times its size, and add a good teaspoon of salt - don't worry this won't over salt the finished dish. Stir to make sure the pasta doesn't stick together.

Here is a recipe I first encountered in the Piccolo Mondo restaurant in Rome, adapted slightly for easier home cooking. If you can, choose the smaller end pieces of oxtail, they stack better in the finished dish. Use 2-3 lbs of oxtail according to how much meat you eat, this will feed 2-4 persons.

In a heavy-bottom casserole, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil. Mix 1 flat tspn salt with a shake of crushed black pepper and 3 Tbsp plain flour. Dip each piece of oxtail into this to coat well, brown each side of the oxtail pieces in the oil and set aside. Add 2 yellow onions chopped very small and sprinkled with a little salt, allow to caramelise slowly, about 10 minutes. Chop and add 1 small carrot, 1 stick celery, 2 cloves garlic and 1 dark plum and cook for 10 minutes, remove the plum and set aside, then add 2 chopped tomatoes, 6 ground-up cloves, cup red wine (optional) and 1 cup beefstock - you can make it from a beef stock cube and boiling water. Boil for 3 minutes, return the oxtail to the pot, lower the heat and cook slowly in the oven or over a low fire for 2 hours.

Once the oxtail is tender, remove and set aside covered to keep warm. I like to add 1 Tbsp of cognac or brandy to the juice at this point and raise the heat to boil off the alcohol, but this is purely a personal preference. Reduce the stock and press down to mash the vegetables (or use a blender) to make the sauce. Check the seasoning and adjust if necessary.

Boil the water for the pasta: take 3 pieces per person of the dry pasta lasagna pieces you will find in the pasta section of the supermarket. Cook in plenty of salted water until done; see the packet for cooking times but check also.

Tip: You can substitute fresh egg and wheat flour won tom noodle squares that you can buy at local noodle shops - although there seems to be less of them around these days - but greatly reduce the cooking times.

To assemble the dish; spread 2 Tbsp of the sauce on a warmed plate, place 1 pasta square on the sauce and stack the oxtail pieces moistened by more sauce. Drape 1 pasta square over the oxtail and another piece to the side with the plum on top and 1 Tbsp sauce. Decorate with a little green herb such as parsley or slivers of spring onion.

Nb. If you would like to make your own pasta see this column next week.