Braised Oxtail

Ingredients

• 750g oxtail
• 300ml red wine
• 100g shallot or onion (3)
• 120g carrot (2)
• 130g celery (2 sticks)
• 2 cloves of garlic (preferably smoked garlic)
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 1 small bunch of parsley
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 litre beef stock
• 1 litre of water
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• greaseproof paper

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 4 hours
Serves: 3 (250g per person)

Method

1. Heat the oven to 160°c.
2. Peel the carrots and shallots or onion and chop them with the celery into small pieces (about the size of your thumbnail). Peel and roughly chop the garlic.
3. Heat the oil in a frying pan, season the oxtail with salt & pepper and fry it until it is brown all over (Tip: use barbeque tongs to turn the oxtail over). Then put it onto a plate.
4. Put the carrots, shallots and celery into the frying pan the oxtail was in and fry them until they begin to turn brown (there should still be enough oil in the pan to do this, if not just add some more).
5. Add the garlic and fry for 1 minute before putting the contents of the frying pan into into a large pot with a lid. Then put the oxtail, thyme, parsley and bay leaves in, on top of the vegetables.
6. Turn down the heat, pour the red wine into the frying pan, scrape of any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan and then pour this onto the oxtail. (If you use gas burners the red wine can burst into flame if the pan is too hot. Turning down the heat before adding the wine helps to avoid this.)
7. Add the beef stock and water into the large pot. If the liquid does not cover the oxtail, top it up with more water.
8. Place a piece of greaseproof paper larger than the diameter of the pot on top of the liquid and put the lid on.
9. Put the pot into the oven and cook it for 4 hours, checking it every half an hour to make sure it hasn’t boiled dry (if it looks like it is becoming too dry, simply add some hot water).
10. Remove the oxtail from the pot, sieve the liquid into another pan and boil until it has reduced by half to make the sauce. Discard the vegetables.
11. Place the oxtail back into the first pot, pour over the sauce and gently reheat the oxtail for about 5 minutes.
12. Serve. We served it with mashed potato, an artichoke heart and boiled baby carrots.

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Useful Information

Can it be frozen? Yes.
Can it be prepared in advance? Yes, to stage 10 for up to 3 days (reheat them for 10 minutes in stage 11).
Will leftovers be nice? Yes, for up to 3 days.

Notes