Elegant and Rich, but Surprisingly Vibrant.
I’m not fond of a lot of braised meat recipes as I find most of them to be too umami packed for my taste. As much as I enjoy the tender unctious meat, the sauce usually runs too rich for me and after a couple of bites I’m done. This is only a personal preference and I fully realize I’m in the minority here. But you’ll never see beef bourguignon or those types of dishes on my table.
Seeing as how this is the case, I decided to make some braised oxtails that I would enjoy. When it comes to braised beef dishes, I think oxtails are the king of the mountain. They have so much collagen that you don’t need much else in order to end up with a beautifully textured sauce. I first browned them well, removed them from the pot and continued with building my sauce.
Plenty of diced onions and garlic cloves went into the pot and were cooked until they started to brown. I put the oxtails back in and added chicken stock, water, toasted and roughly ground cumin seeds and dried fenugreek leaves *. I didn’t over do either of those spices. I only wanted them there for an underlying warmth. Some black pepper and a little soy sauce went in and after coming to a boil and skimming out the impurities, I covered the pot, placed it in the oven and let it cook for 2 hours. I then uncovered the pot and let if finish cooking for another hour, at which point the meat had developed a beautiful caramelized coating and the sauce was practically cooked down to nothing. I added some diced carrots for the last 20 minutes of cooking because I wanted some veggies in the mix.
I removed the oxtails, covered them in order to keep them warm, and let the sauce sit for 10 – 15 minutes. There is a lot of fat that cooks out of the oxtails and it needs to be skimmed off before proceeding. Remember that Salty Orange Cream I told you about in my Beans with Salty Orange Cream and Croutons recipe post? Well, I couldn’t think of a more perfect way to use it than in this sauce. I stirred in 3 full tablespoons at this point and heated it up. When it was good and hot, I stirred in an entire bunch of chopped flat leaf parsley leaves.
The Salty Orange Cream is not sweet. Think of preserved lemons, only it’s made with oranges. It gave the sauce brightness and interest and the parsley added freshness. Both ingredients cut the richness beautifully. The sauce tasted deep and rich, but also light and bright. I garnished it with some freshly grated orange zest in order to emphasize the orange flavor and finished it off with a few more parsley leaves.
To say this was a hit with my meat lovers is a gross understatement. All of us really loved it. I served it with some turmeric rice and my High-Heat-Roasted Baby Bok Choy. And yes, this is a braised meat dish that I can fully support.
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Braised Oxtails with Salty Orange Cream
6
servingsOxtails are braised in a light stock with salty orange cream and lots of parsley stirred in at the end. You end up with a rich, but vibrant dish. Nothing at all boring about this recipe.
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Ingredients
4 pounds oxtails
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons neutral vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, diced (approximately 3 cups)
6 large garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
4 cups low sodium chicken stock
2 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted and roughly ground
1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves *
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
2 teaspoons soy sauce
3 carrots, peeled and diced
3 tablespoons Salty Orange Cream - click here for the recipe
1 1/2 - 2 cups flat leaf parsley leaves (1 large bunch) roughly chopped, saving a few whole leaves for garnish
1 tablespoon packed finely grated orange zest
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350° with a rack in the center. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat (I used a 7 quart size). Lightly salt half the oxtails and add them to the pot. Brown on all sides, adjusting the heat as necessary to prevent them from burning. This will take about 15 - 20 minutes. Remove the browned oxtails to a plate and repeat with the remaining oxtails. Spoon off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat in the pot.
- Over medium heat, add the onions to the pot and cook until thoroughly softened and starting to brown - about 15 -20 minutes. Add the garlic cloves to the pot and cook for about 1 minute. Put the oxtails back in the pot , add the chicken stock and next 5 ingredients. Stir and bring to a simmer over medium high heat while skimming off any impurities.
- Cover, put in the oven and bake for 2 hours. Remove the lid and cook for an additional 40 minutes. Stir in the carrots and bake for another 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, remove the oxtails from the pot, place in a bowl and keep covered. Let the sauce sit for 10 - 15 minutes. Skim off as much oil as possible. Stir in the Salty Orange Cream. Taste for seasoning. I purposely went light on salt when I made this because I knew I the Salty Orange Cream would contain plenty. Reheat over low heat if it needs it. Right before serving, stir in the chopped parsley. Spoon some of the sauce onto serving plates, top with the oxtails, garnish with orange zest, whole parsley leaves, and black pepper. Enjoy!
Equipment
- 6 - 7 Quart Dutch Oven