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Braised oxtail with basil dumplings

By Barney Desmazery

Slow-cooked oxtail is soft, melting meat and teamed with this rich red wine sauce it’s perfect for parties

Prep:20 mins
Cook:3 hrs 30 mins

Serves 6
Easy

Nutrition per serving

kcal 812
fat 41g
saturates 17g
carbs 50g
sugars 8g
fibre 4g
protein 53g
salt 2.08g

Ingredients

2 tbsp plain flour
2 oxtail, jointed and cut into pieces
4 tbsp sunflower oil, for frying
2 onions, chopped
3 carrots, cut into small chunks
2 celery sticks, cut into small chunks
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp tomato purée
bay leaves and thyme sprigs, tied together
1 bottle full-bodied red wine
300g self-raising flour
bunch basil leaves, removed
75g butter
3 egg whites
olive oil, for drizzling

Tip

Oxtail
This is the tail meat from cattle and, when slow-cooked, is one of the tastiest cuts of beef. You may see whole oxtail in the butchers, but for most dishes you will want it jointed into pieces. As the oxtail has a thick and a thin end, the pieces will vary in size – you will need two large pieces per serving. Oxtail should be neatly jointed without any splintery bits of bone attached to the meat.Barney says...
Oxtail is tough, so you need to braise it for a good few hours. What you are then left with is the magic of cooking – soft, melting meat with a thick, glistening sauce. I think it goes really well with these basil dumplings.

Method

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Season the flour with salt and pepper, then toss the oxtail in it until evenly coated. Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole. Working in batches, brown the meat really well on all sides. Remove from the pan, then add the veg and garlic and fry for 3-4 mins until starting to colour. Stir in the tomato purée and herbs. Tip the meat back into the pan, pour over the wine, then crumble in the stock cube. Season, cover the pan and braise in the oven for 3 hrs until the meat is meltingly tender. Can be cooked up to 2 days ahead. If you make it ahead, chill in the fridge and lift any fat off the top before reheating.
To make the dumplings, tip the flour and basil (reserving a few leaves for a garnish) into a food processor with a generous pinch of salt, then blitz until the basil is finely chopped. Add the butter and blitz until it’s the texture of breadcrumbs, then gradually add the egg whites until everything comes together. On a floured surface, roll the dumplings into small, walnut-size balls, then cover with a tea towel until ready to cook.
To serve, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Simmer dumplings for 15 mins, then remove with a slotted spoon. While the dumplings are cooking, gently reheat the meat in the sauce. Serve a few chunks of meat in a soup bowl with a few dumplings, drizzled with olive oil and scattered with a few basil leaves.