BRAISED OXTAILS WITH A HINT OF RED WINE….AND THAT WAS SUPPER!!

The price of oxtails is ‘through the roof’. I guess because of the holidays, the stores take advantage of their customers. I couldn’t believe the price the last time I saw it. It was close to $6.00 per pound. Come on,  you’re talking about a meat made up of bone, a little meat and fat to be discarded.  I’m glad I’m not a big lover of the meat. However, once in a while, I do get the feeling for it.

So, today, I had a feeling for a dish of oxtails. Already, I knew I had a few pieces in a small package that I had bought a couple of weeks ago. I’m used to the Jamaican way of cooking with butter beans and all the exotic spices and seasonings. This time I decided to exclude the beans.

Oxtails take quite sometime to be tenderized. If you have a pressure cooker then the duration of cooking is decreased enormously. Of course, I don’t own a cooker so I knew I had to at least give it a couple of hours and half to braise. It can be done in the oven or stove top. I decided to opt for the stove top.

Oxtails were seasoned  with salt and pepper along with crushed garlic and a dash of balsamic vinegar. A couple of hours later, a drizzle of canola oil was heated in a sturdy stock pot and oxtail pieces were tossed and browned after removing the pieces of garlic. A splash of red wine (cabernet sauvignon) was also added and scraped up all the bits at the bottom of pot.

To that, I added a few of root veggies like onions, carrots, bell peppers and celery. Also, thyme, allspice (pimento) were added. With a drizzle of soy sauce, I added tap water to cover oxtail pieces. Oxtails were slowly braised for approximately two and half hours after checking every 20 minutes to add extra liquid if needed.

When oxtails became fork tender, additional seasonings were added. Thanks to the butcher, I never had to skim any oil from my dish. I served my cooked oxtails with steamed asparagus and brown rice along with steamed green beans. I was happy.

Hmm, come to think of it, I should invest in a pressure cooker. You never know when I might need same.