South African Oxtail Stew

[Nero]

I finally got around to making this today. The original recipe can be found here but as I was missing a few ingredients I made some substitutions.

Oxtail Stew

Ingredients
3lbs Oxtails with separated joints
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped (in place of celery stick from original recipe)
1 large carrot, chopped
2 cups stock (chicken or beef - I used beef)
2 cups red wine
3 whole cloves garlic, unpeeled
a strip of lemon peel (in place of the bay leaf from original recipe)
pinch of thyme
parsley

Method
Sprinkle the oxtails with salt and pepper (I mixed the salt and pepper with two tablespoons of flour and dredged the oxtails in this). Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and brown the oxtails. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the chopped onions, carrot and green pepper to the pan and fry until the onions are translucent. Add the oxtails back to the pan. Add the garlic, stock and wine. Add the lemon peel, thyme and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 3 hours, or until the meat is tender and falls off the bone.

To defat the stew, chill the soup overnight then remove the fat. Remove oxtails and boil down the stock until reduced by half. Strain through a sieve, pressing down on the solids to get as much through as possible. Discard the vegetables. Return the oxtails to the pan for the last few minutes to heat through, garnishing with parsley just before serving.

We will serve this with rice and broccoli however the suggestion in the original recipe of roasting turnips, carrots and parsnips and adding this to the pot also sounds delicious.