Week 2: Oxtail Stew

The second week of January brought lots of rain, a return to work and cold weather, although not the -35 degrees the Americans were enjoying. Shame about the woman who scolded herself trying to turn boiling water into snow by throwing it into the icy cold strong wind outside her home. Point of safety to reflect on there.

So it was while strolling round my local Morrisons supermarket mulling over international weather conditions that some oxtail caught my eye, and I realised that I'd never cooked with oxtail before, despite the fact that I like its rich, meaty and somewhat fatty flavour. So, in the trolley it went and the second recipe in this challenge was upon me before I could say, "How do you cook oxtail?".

·  1kg oxtail, cut into chunky pieces (normally sold like this in the shop)	·  3 tbsp plain flour
·  salt and freshly ground black pepper	·  3–4 tbsp olive oli
·  2 medium onions, sliced	·  2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
·  2 medium carrots, diced	·  2 celery stalks, diced
·  4 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried thyme)	·  2 bay leaves
·  300ml red wine or a healthy glug of sweet desert wine	·  500ml good beef stock
·  2 tbsp tomato purée

Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2.

Wash the oxtail pieces and pat dry. Trim off the excess fat as possible. Roll the oxtail pieces in well-seasoned flour, and brown them in a casserole dish (already containing heated oil) for about 10 minutes, turning every now and then, until dark brown all over. You may need to add extra oil if the pan looks dry at any point during the browning step.

Remove the oxtail and add the onions, garlic, carrots and celery. Add a little extra oil if necessary. Cook gently for 10 minutes, or until softened and lightly browned, stirring occasionally.

Put all the veg and oxtail back in and add the thyme and bay leaves. Stir in the wine, beef stock and tomato purée. Season with salt and pepper, put the casserole on the heat and bring to a gentle simmer. Cover the casserole dish with a lid and cook in the centre of the oven for 3 hours. Stir after 1½ hours, turning the oxtail in the sauce as necessary. This should smell very good. hearty and warming for the winter.

After 3 hours, the meat should be falling off the bones and the sauce should be fairly thick. Remove the casserole dish from the oven and transfer the oxtail pieces to a plate, set aside and keep warm. Stir any fat that’s on the surface into the stew – makes it nice and flavoursome. Alternately, skim it off if you’re on a diet. But let’s face it, if you’re on a diet, you won’t be eating this.

If making dumplings (and I would), add them to the stew 30 minutes before the end remove the top from the casserole for the last 15 minutes so the dumplings crisp up on the top.

Serve with mash and some seasonal veg to add colour and make it look a little healthier. The end result will be rich and taste delicicious.

Recipe adapted from: BBC (2014) Oxtail Stew [online]. Available at: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/oxtail_stew_91956>. Accessed10th Jan 2014.