The reasons why I love Stewed: Part two

I first tried oxtail for the first time almost a year ago at Hereford Road, it was tender, succulent and nothing like I remembered from the days of tinned Oxtail soup. I vowed there and then that I would try to copy the delicious meal that was served to us... it only took a year...


The Chicken Cacciatore was so popular at home that I decided, on a lazy Sunday, that I would make a Rich Oxtail Stew, again from the brilliant Alan Rosenthal's Stewed book.

The decision was made whilst cycling past a butchers in Fulham and having a look inside to see if they had any oxtail, they did and so £15 later it was in the bag, both the oxtail and the decision.


So aside from 2kg of oxtail that I cycled home with in my backpack you will also need...
Salt and pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
4 carrots
4 celery sticks
1 1/2 leeks (I used two accidentally but I don't think the outcome was effected!)
2 onions
3 sprigs of thyme
3 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves
500ml red wine
500ml beer
1 litre beef stock
400g tinned tomatoes
4 tomatoes
and fresh parsley to serve.

And here's how, firstly preheat the oven to 160c or gas mark 5. While you're trimming the fat from the oxtail, coax a handy helper from the sofa to roughly chop two carrots, two celery sticks, 1/2 a leek and two onions.

He might take a while with the chopping so you should have time to season and brown the oxtail in the olive oil. You might need to do this in batches, I surely didn't have a pan big enough to do them all at once. You'll need to spend 2-3 minutes on each side to get a good colour. Transfer these to a bowl and keep warm.

Using the same pan, add the carrots, celery, leek and onions to the pan with the thyme and bay leaves. Gently cook these for 10-12 minutes on a moderate heat until the onions have softened and are starting to brown at the edges. Now add the roughly chopped garlic and cook for a couple more minutes.

Pour in the wine, beer, stock, chopped tomatoes and some black pepper. Don't add any salt yet as the sauce will be reduced later which will intensify all the flavours.

Now return the browned oxtail and any collected juices to the pan. Bring the stew to simmering point and pop the dish in the oven with the lid on for 3 and 1/2 hours.
(I used a massive casserole dish for this and there was still some left over so the bigger the better!)
While the stew is in the oven finely dice one carrot, one leek and two celery sticks. And using the point of a knife, make a cross at the base of each tomato. Put the tomatoes in a heatproof bowl and pour over boiling water until the tomatoes are submerged, then leave for a minute. Drain and cool them under cold water. The skins should now slip off. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and remove the seeds and then finely chop into small pieces.

Aside from the tomatoes, put the rest of the vegetables into a small saucepan, add two tablespoons of water and cook on a high heat for three to four minutes until the veggies have softened slightly.
After the time has elapsed (in which time you can witness your football team lose 2-0 and then sulk) the oxtail should be extremely tender; remove the pieces carefully from the pan and set aside on a plate. Sieve the sauce into a bowl using the back of a wooden spoon to push through all the liquid you can from the cooked vegetables. Discard the drained vegetables then return the sieved liquid to the dish and reduce it until it is the consistency of single cream and rich in flavour. This may take up to 20 minutes, feel free to add salt if you think it needs it.

Once the meaty sauce has fully reduced and you're about to serve the dish, add the cooked vegetables and the oxtails back to the sauce and heat through. Then gently mix in the chopped tomatoes.

Serve with creamy mash and a sprinkle of parsley.

Another sure fire way to get that football sulker back on high spirits again! The recipe says it serves four but there was enough for five of us with some left over and look at the size of the portions!

The meat fell of the bone and was so flavoursome and rich,the vegetables added at the end gave a extra crunch to the tender meat and the sauce was thick and meaty.

I thoroughly recommend not only reading Alan Rosenthal's excellent book but also cooking with oxtail. It's inexpensive and certainly adds some wow factor to a Sunday evening.