Oxtail Stew with Prunes

During the cold months of winter, a good, nurturing casserole to warm the cockles always goes down a treat – I’m convinced we wouldn’t have survived these last few months without them.

Oxtail is a meat we don’t tend to come across that often, and I’ve never really understood why people don’t use it more frequently. 

I am often reminded by my Grandmother that ‘back in the day’, oxtail was part of their staple diet, and a stew including it would be made most weeks. 

The meat, when cooked with ‘tender love and care’ just falls off the bone and embodies a sweet, succulent flavour.

This is a slightly more luxurious version of a basic stew, however it’s simple to assemble and a brilliant recipe to introduce oxtail into your kitchen. 

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

2 oxtails, cut into 4cm pieces

200g smoked bacon lardons

1 large red onion, roughly chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 celery sticks, finely chopped

1 orange, juiced and zest

200g prunes, pitted

2 cinnamon sticks

10 juniper berries, crushed

1 bouquet garni (2 bay leaves, 2 sprigs of rosemary and a small bunch of thyme)

18 shallots, peeled

300ml red wine

500ml beef stock

Olive oil

Knob of butter

Plain flour

Salt & Pepper

Method

v  Preheat the oven to 160’C

v  Wash and dry the oxtail pieces, trim off any excess fat and rub with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, and toss in the plain flour, ensuring each piece is coated.

v  Pour a good glug of olive oil into a large saucepan and brown off each piece of oxtail and place to one side.

v  Add a little more olive oil to the pan and add the garlic, onions and bacon lardons, cooking until golden. Pour in the wine and turn up the heat, using a wooden spoon to scrape up any bits that may have stuck to the bottom of the pan.

v  Return the oxtail to the pan and add the stock, orange juice and zest, along with the juniper berries, cinnamon and bouquet garni. Season with salt and pepper and bring the whole lot to the boil and then reduce to simmer.

v  Transfer the stew to an ovenproof casserole dish and place in the oven for 3 hours (by which point the meat should be so tender, it is falling off the bone). Alternatively, you can use a slow cooker for this dish, cooking on high for an hour before turning the heat down to low for several hours (or until you’re ready to serve it).

v  Half way through cooking, whether you are using an oven or a slow cooker, fry the shallots in a pan with butter until they are golden all over and add along with the prunes. Give the stew a good stir and leave to continue cooking.

v  Before serving, remove the cinnamon sticks and what you can of the bouquet garni – the rosemary and thyme leaves will have become detached and embodied into the stew, but make sure you remove the stalks at least.

v  If the sauce is still rather runny, remove the meat, prunes and shallots and bring the juices to the boil until they thicken. Return the rest of the cooked ingredients and give the stew one last stir.

v  Like any wholesome casserole, serve with a generous dollop of creamy mashed potato or a chunk of crusty break to soak up all that delicious sauce.