When I think of buying, cooking and eating meat, I have to say that oxtail has never been at the top of my list. Not even on my radar to be quite honest. I had never eaten it nor had I even considered eating it. Why would I? Seriously, how much meat can there be on the tail of an ox??? That all changed one day when I spotted it in the freezer at our local farm store, and on a whim I brought it home. In retrospect, maybe it wasn't such a whim. Let me give you some background. Our family has been infused with a little bit of Island culture in the form of a lovely young man originally from Grenada. And Jerald is all about the meat. No meal is complete without the meat. No matter what time of day. Not so keen on the veggies though (I will keep pestering him until he sees the light but I won't hold my breath on that one.) He's a great cook as well and we've had some discussions about the spices and flavours that go in to his dishes. Oxtail stew has been one of those dishes and I was lucky enough to get to sample it recently. Delish- thanks Jer!
I also happen to have an awesome running buddy/great friend named Nicole who grew up in Barbados. When I mentioned that I had picked up some oxtail and was searching for a recipe to use it in, she offered me one of her Bajan cookbooks and suggested I try something called Pepper Pot. There is a heck of a lot of meat in Pepper Pot: oxtail, pig feet, cow heal, beef stew, a 3-4 lb chicken, salted pork. Seriously. Absolute heaven for a strict carnivore. The mere mention of it made Jerald's mouth water. That one is still on my to-do list (or a version of it at least), but I thought before I immersed myself totally in an all out meat-fest, I needed to start with a rookie dish. This oxtail stew is my first foray into "weird-to-me" meat (to keep things in perspective, remember that this was the first year that I roasted a chicken and only the second year that I've prepared a Turkey- baby steps people!) And I went pretty mild: in Jerald's version of oxtail stew he uses Scotch Bonnet peppers which sound to me like they would be quite unassuming (I've never found Scotsmen to be particularly spicy people), but in fact they are quite hot (am I talking about the peppers or the people???...who knows at the moment!) My version may not be spicy hot but it is definitely rich and thick and elegant. As in any good stew, you will need to have a few hours available to let it slowly tenderize away in the oven. Perfect meal for a snowy winter's afternoon where the only thing you have on your schedule is to finally finish that book you've been reading while sipping a lovely glass of wine...or enjoying a tipple or two of smoky Scotch whiskey...or both. Who knows...oxtail could very well become my gateway meat to other exciting adventures in the land of exotic dishes. But I won't be eating any goat head soup any time soon (that picture is burned in to my brain, thanks a lot Jerald.)
Cheers from Bistro 164!
Jamie Oliver's Insanely Good Oxtail Stew
(original recipe here)
Serves: 8
Total time: 6 hours (a good recipe for a snowy, lazy, winter weekend afternoon)
Very very easy to make
Ingredients
2.5 kg oxtail (chopped into chunks with bone-in)
2 leeks, diced
olive oil
2 celery sticks, diced
4 carrots, diced (I didn't peel them)
4 cloves of diced garlic (I used a couple of tbsps of jarred diced garlic in oil)
a few sprigs of fresh thyme and fresh rosemary
4 bay leaves
2 heaping tbsps of plain flour
2 x 400 g diced tinned tomatoes
275 mL of porter or red wine (I had to sneak the red wine in, the sous chef is very protective of our red wine supply!)
1 litre of organic beef stock or 1 litre of water
Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper
Directions
Preheat your oven to 425 F and place in it a large roasting tray. Once the tray is heated, take it out, add in the oxtail, season with some salt and pepper, add a good lug of olive oil. Toss to coat the oxtail. Place the tray back into the oven and roast for about 20 minutes, until the oxtail is nicely browned.
While the meat is browning, get out a large oven-proof casserole dish (a lovely dutch oven will do), add a splash of oil to it and heat to medium-low. Start chopping up the leeks, celery and carrots into nice bite-sized chunks and add to the casserole pot. Roughly chop up the fresh thyme and rosemary leaves and add. Throw in the bay leaves and cook for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.
When the oxtail is done browning, remove from oven and decrease the temperature to 325 F.
Add the garlic, flour, tinned tomatoes, beef stock and wine (if using), the oxtail (and any roasting pan juices) to the veg mix. Stir to combine. Turn the heat up to high and bring to a boil. Once boiled, put the lid on your pot and place in to the oven for about 5 hours, or until the meat begins to loosen from the bone. Keep checking it every hour and add some water if needed. Fill up your glass with the remaining red wine, grab a good book, and put your feet up for a few hours.
After the 5 hours are up, remove the pot from the oven and let sit for about 10 minutes. Grab some rubber gloves and strip the meat from the bone. Return the meat to the pan and discard the bones. Fish out those bay leaves as well.
Add a good splash or two of Worcestershire sauce. Serve with yummy smashed potatoes, or creamy polenta, a good hunk of crusty bread or steamed vegetables. Dig in!
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