Ox Tail and Shin Stew
Method
- This is a lovely slow-cooked stew using oxtail and beef shin - cheap cuts of meat that become sticky and melting after hours of cooking, shredded and pulled apart in a rich red wine sauce with buttery polenta and sweet sharp red cabbage.
- Chop 2 carrots, 2 sticks of celery and an onion, add to a pot, with some thyme, parsley and a bay leaf. Use about 5 pieces of ox tail, approximately half a whole tail, then about 500g of beef shin, cut
- into chunks.
- Add the meat to the pot with the vegetables and herbs along with a big piece of orange rind, then cover the whole lot with cold water and bring it to the boil. Don’t add any seasoning at this point as you reduce the sauce quite a lot later. For the first 5 mins skim off any foam or brown scum from the surface. Leave to simmer very gently for 3-4 hours, with the water only just moving, until the meat is falling apart.
- When the meat is ready remove it from the pan and leave to cool slightly. When cooled enough to touch, pull the oxtail off the bone. Ladle about 4 ladles of stock into another pan, and add ¼ bottle of red wine, then boil to reduce until you have a thicker sauce, then add the meat back into the sauce. Serve with buttery polenta and braised red cabbage. The meat is rich and soft in its red wine sauce, with the buttery warm soft polenta and sharp sweet red cabbage it is a match made in heaven.
