From Nicola Millbank's cookbook, 'Milly's Real Food'
Serves 4
Ingredients for the oxtail ragu:
- olive oil
- 1kg oxtail cut into approximately 4–5 thick chunks
- butter
- 2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
- 200ml red wine
- 1 x 400g tin cherry tomatoes
- 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 litre good-quality beef stock
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Ingredients for the parmesan mash:
- 500g Maris Piper potatoes
- 50g butter
- a large handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the gremolata oil:
- 1/2 bunch of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- zest of 1/2 unwaxed lemon
- 100ml extra-virgin olive oil
Method:
Preheat the oven to 150°C/130°C fan/Gas mark 2.
Place a heavy-based pan over a high heat and add a glug of olive oil. Season the oxtail with salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes until browned on all sides. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Add a knob of butter and throw in the carrots, onion, garlic and celery. Cook for 5 minutes until soft, then pour in the wine to deglaze the pan. Add the cherry tomatoes, mustard, tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce and beef stock and bring to the boil. Return the oxtail to the pan, cover with a lid and cook on the middle shelf of the oven for 4 hours.
To make the mash, peel the potatoes and cut into chunks. Boil the potatoes in salted water for 15 minutes or until soft.
Drain, transfer back to the pan and mash together with the butter, Parmesan and a good pinch of salt and pepper.
A few years ago, I learnt to cook a dish with oxtail and was hooked. For those who wouldn’t know what to do with oxtail or who think it’s old-fashioned, trust me on this one. You won’t look back.
When slow-cooked for hours, it releases the sweetest and most delicious flavour, one you’ll never get from steak.
My advice? Make this a day ahead, and reheat again the following day for even more flavour. Fish out the bones and shred the meat before serving for a fuss-free dish.
Meanwhile, make the gremolata oil. Place the parsley and garlic in a bowl and add the lemon zest.
Pour in the extra-virgin olive oil and stir well.
Once the oxtail is cooked, you can serve it whole as it is or shred the meat before serving. As oxtail is quite a fatty cut, I like to shred mine.
To do this, simply remove the oxtail from the pan, shred the meat away from the bone and return to the pan. Stir the shredded meat into the ragu and serve with a spoonful of Parmesan mash and a drizzle of gremolata oil.
