Beef

As the Bay Area cools, I can’t help but think of making some hearty beef stew. An oxtail stew just fits the bill as a rich comfort food. So, I visited my butcher and got some high quality oxtail. (By the way, this cut is beef. Don’t let the name fool you.)

Pressure cooker tenderizes the oxtail fast

As we chatted about the best way to stew my oxtail, he recommended using a pressure cooker

“A pressure cooker?” I remained skeptical.

“Put them in the cooker for an hour and they are mostly done. Add another 15 minutes if you like. That’s it!” he reassured me.

So, I dug out my pressure cooker for this oxtail recipe.

Making it low-carb with grapes and olives

Besides the great, warming flavors of an oxtail stew, I wanted to create a high-protein, low-carb dish. So even though I largely followed the classic method, I boldly replaced the classic potatoes with some red grapes and green olives. It was a risk I’m glad I took. I was pleasantly surprised by the added dimension from the sweetness of the grapes and saltiness of the green olives. Meanwhile, the rich, beefy taste, invigorated by Pinot Noir, was irresistible. To fit my work schedule, I prepared this recipe in two stages as follows.

Ingredients

This recipe serves 4 to 6

2 Tablespoon canola oil
2 lb (1.8 to 2 kg) oxtails
4 cups chopped onion
2 teaspoon butter
Salt and pepper, a fair amount
2 Tablespoon flour
2 C (480 to 500 ml) Pinot Noir
1 quart (946 ml) beef broth
2 bay leaves
2 cloves of garlic
⅓ cup fresh rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
3 tablespoon tomato paste
2 C carrot, roughly cut
2 C celery, chopped
2 C red grapes
1 C green olive
Parsley, leaves only, roughly chopped

Directions

Bring the pressure cooker to medium heat, add canola oil and oxtails to brown, making sure the pieces are turned periodically such that the oxtails are browned evenly, about 10 minutes. To avoid overcrowding the pot, you may need to brown the oxtails in batches. While the oxtails are browning, pound garlic, rosemary and thyme with 1 teaspoon of salt in a mortar to form a paste. Remove the oxtails. Add 2 cups chopped onion and 2 teaspoon of salt and saute for 5 minutes. Add flour and butter to make a roux. Cook flour for 3 minutes. Add the pounded mixture of rosemary, thyme and garlic. Then add tomato paste. Slowly add beef stock and wine, scraping off the brown bits from the bottom as you go. (Oh,those heavenly bits of flavor.) Return the oxtails to the pot. Add extra water to cover the tails if necessary. Add bay leaves. Secure the lid on the pressure cooker. Build up pressure and cook for 1 hour. Turn off heat. Quickly reduce the pressure according to the quick-release instructions of your pressure cooker. I ran cold water directly over the cooker (see Things you may want to know). Check the tail for tenderness. Add 15 minutes if necessary but make sure the oxtails are cooked slightly under. Skim off all the fat. Take your time as you will find a lot of it. This is where you can stop. Store the meat and sauce away. When you are ready to finish making the stew, heat up a soup pan, saute 2 cups of chopped onion, celery, and carrots for 3 minutes. Add 2 cups fresh Pinot Noir, oxtails and their sauce and cook for 30 minutes. Add red grapes and green olives at the 15-minute mark. The stew is finished when the vegetables are fork tender. At the final 5-minute mark, add parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

Things you may want to know

The oxtails that you will find in the market are actually cow’s tails. No ox is involved.
The pressure cooker used in this recipe allows me to quickly release the pressure by running tap water over the cooker in my sink. I do this to keep my timing accurate. Different cookers may have different instructions. The one used in this recipe is the Fagor Splendid 6-quart. It is available at Amazon.
If you prefer to finish making the stew at once, after removing the fat from the oxtails, you can add the vegetables directly into the pressure cooker. Then cook them without pressure for about 30 minutes.
Many people enjoy oxtail stew with bread. However, if you are concerned about carbs in your diet, you can switch to quinoa as a side.
As for wine pairing, I recommend Fogdog Pinot Noir 2007 from Freestone Vineyards, Freestone, CA.

My other stew recipes

Explore my recipes and food articles! Click on the tag below to see more articles that you may be interested in. You can also click on the tag cloud on the right to find out more related recipes and food articles. Here are two other stews that came to my mind.

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By PK, We Live Concepts

To continue my oven bag experiment, I attempted to use the oven bag to cook a Classic Chinese Beef Stew. When I was a child, I used to enjoy this dish in the winter. So it has a true home made memory in its flavors. Also, the leftovers usually taste better and better so that you can have it for lunch for a few more days.There are two requirements to this stew. The meat has to be chewy yet soft, and the broth has to be rich and beefy. To avoid spending a lot of money, I turned to an oven bag, in an attempt to simplify the cooking process while bringing out all the original flavors.The traditional Chinese Beef Stew is usually cooked in a clay pot for hours. Dried ingredients have to be re-hydrated ahead of time. To assemble the pot, ingredients are added layer by layer. Then the stewing takes 2 ½ to 3 hours. During the stewing process, the liquid level needs to be checked periodically to prevent drying. Therefore, to make a good dish, the timing has to be carefully controlled.

With an oven bag I put everything, including the dried ingredients, into the bag all at one time. Thus, I did not have to spend any time re-hydrating the dried ingredients. To the bag, I pierced some holes as steam vents, set it in the a baking dish and baked it for 2 ½ hours. I simply set the timer and walked away. To re-create the traditional look, at the end of the cooking, I transferred the contents into a clay pot, added fresh green onion, and served.

Ingredients:
Serves 2 with left over for lunch

2 lb beef cross rib roast, cut in 1 to 1 ½ inch cubes
1 oz ginger
4 oz green onion, separate white part from the green part, cut the white part in 1 inch sections, save green part for later
1 ¾ lb daikon, peeled and cut in large pieces
10 oz dried soy skin, cracked in 2 inch sections
½ C shaohsing cooking wine
1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 C beef stock
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 Tbsp flour
1 tsp aniseed powder

Assembling is easy. Open up one oven bag, set it in a baking dish, roll back the opening, then literally put everything into the bag. Tie up the mouth of the bag and squeeze the bag around to mix the ingredients. The bag is ready to bake.

At the end of 2 ½ hours, cut a small hole at the bottom corner of the bag to drain the liquid into a Chinese clay pot. Then cut open the top of the bag and transfer the entire contents. At this point, season the stew properly with salt and pepper. To re-create a true Chinese clay pot stew, bring the stew to a rolling boil. Cover the pot and let the stew simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes to allow the bottom to scorch a little. Slice the green part of the green onion and sprinkle it onto the top and serve. Make sure that the stew is still boiling at the table when it is served. Pair up the dish with some jasmine rice. Shh…no one needs to know that it comes out of a bag.

To serve as a lunch with some added variety in the next day or so, cook some rice noodles or egg noodles and use the stew liquid as the broth. Poach some fresh bok choy to give an additional flavor.

To pack for lunch, just bring rice and stew to work in separate containers, and you will have a very comforting lunch at work.

~ Have you eaten yet?

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Tag Archives: Beef

Low-carb Oxtail Stew in Pinot Noir Made With a Pressure Cooker