"Oh my word. This is the stickiest, yummiest stew ever. I know the idea of using the tail of a cow may raise your eyebrows, but seriously, it makes the most incredibly rich and delicious stew. This tastes insanely good as well as filling the whole house with an amazing smell."
Oxtail Stew
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Prep time: 20mins
Cook time: 3hrs 15mins
Serves or Makes: 6
Recipe Card
ingredients
- 1 kilogram oxtail
- 3 tbsp plain flour
- pinch of flaked sea salt
- grind of black pepper
- 4 tbsp sunflower oil
- 2 onions, halved and thinly sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
- 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 2cm dice
- 2 sticks celery, cut into 2cm dice
- 3 sprigs thyme
- 2 fresh bay leaves
- 800 milliliter beef stock
- 400 milliliter good red wine
- 400 gram tinned chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp flat leaf parsley, finley chopped
Method
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 160°c.
Step 2
Coat the oxtail in the flour, tossing well to coat every piece, then season with salt and pepper.
Step 3
Heat two tablespoons of the oil in a large frying pan. Using tongs, brown the oxtail over a medium heat 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 set aside.
Step 4
Add more oil to the same pan, and fry the onions, garlic, carrots and celery for around 5 minutes until the vegetables start to caramelise.
Step 5
Transfer the browned oxtail to a large casserole dish, followed by the vegetables, thyme and bay leaves. Cover everything with the stock, wine and tinned tomatoes. Season well with salt and pepper and give it a gentle but firm mix to ensure the liquid gets distributed throughout and under the oxtail. If the liquid does not quite cover the meat, add 100ml of water to ensure it’s all submerged. This may be the case if your oxtail is from the fatter end of the tail.
Step 6
Place the lid on the casserole dish and bring the stew to a gentle simmer on the stove. Transfer it to the oven and cook for 1 hour 30 minutes, take it out to give it a gentle stir, then put the stew back in for a further 1 hour and 30 minutes. The meat will start to fall off the bone and the sauce will be thick, glossy and sticky. If the stew looks too wet, just pop it back into the oven for an extra 30 minutes. If it’s drying out at any point, then add a little more water to bring it back to life.
Step 7
I like to serve this as it comes, with potato mash or fresh baguette alongside. The oxtail bones and any gristly bits will simply fall away as you lift them out of the stew, and you can discard these. Top the stew with chopped parsley to finish. Enjoy.