Oxtail Stew

It’s been raining for weeks, so what better time for oxtail stew? I found a recipe for oxtails in Paula Wolfert’s The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen, but it was too slow even for me, since I wanted to eat the oxtails the same day I cooked them. So I took most of her ingredients and adapted the recipe for same-day eating. It turned out pretty good, but I think I may use red wine next time, for a deeper color, and maybe a bit more sugar or even molasses.

Ingredients:
3-4 lbs of oxtails
Freshly ground pepper
Salt
1 tsp. dried oregano
1½ tsp. thyme
1 tsp. crushed fennel seeds
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup dried porcini mushrooms
1 Tb. brown sugar
2 carrots, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1½ cups white (or red!) wine
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
1 3-inch piece of orange peel
2 Tb. Sherry wine vinegar

Garnish: 2-3 Tb. chopped parsley

Rub the oxtails with the oregano, fennel, thyme, ground pepper and salt, and let stand for 30 minutes (or more, if time). Soak the dried mushrooms in 2 cups of very hot water for at least 30 minutes. Then rinse them thoroughly and chop coarsely; strain the mushroom liquid through a coffee filter or paper towel and reserve.

Next brown the oxtails over high heat in 2 Tb. of the olive oil (or a bit more, if needed). This should take about 15 minutes or more. Remove the oxtails to a side dish. Deglaze the pan the oxtails cooked in with ½ cup of the white wine, and then add to the oxtails.

Brown the vegetables in the remaining olive oil over moderately high heat until they are lightly browned. Add the brown sugar to the pan and continue stirring until the vegetables are lightly caramelized. Stir in the vinegar, dried mushrooms, and mushroom liquid, then add mixture to the oxtails, along with the remaining wine and a bay leaf. It’s best to cook the oxtails in a heavy casserole, such as Le Creuset. Cook the oxtails covered on the top of the stove over low heat for about 3 hours—Wolfert suggest putting a crumpled sheet of wet parchment paper over the oxtails while cooking, and that worked well. After two hours of cooking, I strained the liquid, leaving about half of the vegetables with the meat and pressing as much as I could through a coarse strainer; I think you could eliminate this step. Thicken with arrowroot, cornstarch or a beurre manie, if needed. Garnish with parsley and serve with mashed potatoes.

(Wolfert’s recipe calls for chilling the oxtails overnight to be able to remove the fat easily, and she also adds about a pound sautéed oyster mushrooms to finished dish, which she reheats in the oven in a shallow covered baking dish at 350 for 45 minutes or until heated through.)