Oxtail Stew
Serves 6
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 2 oxtails, jointed and cut into pieces
- 4 tbsp sunflower oil, for frying
- 2 onions, chopped
- 3 carrots, cut into small chunks
- 2 celery sticks, cut into small chunks
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- Bay leaves and thyme sprigs, tied together or substitute with dried herbs
- Enough stock to cover the meat
For The Dumplings:
- 300g self-raising flour
- Dried basil or fresh basil leaves
- 75g butter
- 3 egg whites
- Olive oil for drizzling
Method:
- Heat oven to 180ºC.
- Season the flour with salt and pepper, then toss the oxtail in it until evenly coated.
- Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole dish.
- Working in batches, brown the meat really well on all sides.
- Remove from the pan, then add the vegetables and garlic and fry for three to four minutes until it starts to colour. Stir in the tomato purée and herbs.
- Tip the meat back into the pan and pour over the stock. Season, cover and braise in the oven for three hours until the meat is tender.
- This recipe can be cooked up to two days in advance. Chill in the fridge and lift any fat off the top before reheating.
- To make the dumplings, tip the flour and basil into a food processor with a generous pinch of salt, then blitz until the basil is finely chopped or use dried basil.
- Add the butter and blitz until it’s the texture of breadcrumbs, then gradually add the egg whites until everything comes together.
- On a floured surface, roll the dumplings into small, walnut-size balls, then cover with a tea towel until ready to cook.
- Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Simmer dumplings for 15 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon.
- While the dumplings are cooking, gently reheat the meat in the sauce. Serve a few chunks of meat in a soup bowl with a few dumplings, drizzled with olive oil and scattered with a few basil leaves.
Tip: Oxtail is the tail meat from cattle and, when slow-cooked, is one of the tastiest cuts of beef. You may see whole oxtail in the butchers, but for most dishes you will want it jointed into pieces. As the oxtail has a thick and a thin end, the pieces will vary in size – you will need two large pieces per serving. Oxtail should be neatly jointed without any splintery bits of bone attached to the meat. Oxtail is tough, so you need to braise it for a good few hours – this makes it a great slow cooker recipe!
