I love oxtail. It is such a tasty cut of beef. For me it is the perfect meat for a stew. It needs to be slow cooked but it is worth the wait.
This oxtail stew tastes lovely and dirty; I mean, what do you expect from such a fatty cut of meat that you cook on the bone for a long time? What you don’t expect is that this is actually low calorie. What???? You’re kidding me!!! A rich, satisfying, dirty bowl of oxtail stew; low calorie? No way! IT’S TRUE. The way I cooked it there was only 450 calories per portion. UNBELIEVABLE😱
You have to try this stew. If you like beef you will not be disappointed.
I used a slow cooker but you could just cook on a hob, in the oven or in a pressure cooker. See the notes at the end for suggestions about how to use these different methods.
Ingredients
1.2kg oxtail (on the bone)
1 tablespoon oil (I used rapeseed / canola oil)
2 large carrots
2 onions
150g mushrooms (use your favourites)
2 thick rashers smoked back bacon
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
1 litre beef stock (I used four oxo cubes and 1 litre boiling water)
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons flour
2 heaped teaspoons of ready made English mustard
Ground black pepper to taste
Method
The key to any great stew is to make sure you get depth of flavour. This starts with the beautiful oxtail. Rub the pieces of oxtail with the oil and roast at about 180 degC for 20 to 30 minutes until lovely and browned.
Meanwhile prepare the veg. Peel and roughly chop the carrots and onions. Roughly chop the mushroom. Throw the veg in the slow cooker with the bay leaves.
Now for the next layer of flavour. The smoked bacon adds an unbelievable smoky depth to the final stew. Chop the bacon and chuck it in with the veg. Then pour in the Worcestershire sauce, stock and salt. Mix the whole lot together.
Now add in the oxtail and any roasting juices (yet more flavour). Slow cook for a long time. I cooked for about seven hours. About half and half at high and low temperatures.
When cooked the meat will just fall off the bone when gently prodded. At this stage there will be quite a deep layer of fat on top of the stew. It is now that the serious calorie reduction takes place. Remove the meat from the stew.
When cool enough to handle remove the meat from the bone. Break the meat up to your liking. You should discard any large pieces of fat. You should be left with just meat.
My internet research suggests that the meat yielded from cooked oxtail contains about 200 calories per 100g. My 1.2kg of oxtail yielded a little over 400g. So 800 calories which became about 1800 calories with the rest of my ingredients. As this recipe makes four generous portions that makes just 450 calories per portion….AMAZING👍
Now you need to remove the lake of fat from the top of the stew. Personally I use a spoon to remove it initially. Be careful to not spoon out the stock. Spoon the fat out into a bowl. Once you start spooning out a higher proportion of stock than fat then move to the next fat removal stage.
Now this may sound a bit weird but it works an absolute treat. Soak up the fat with kitchen roll. It really works. If there is fat there the kitchen roll soaks up this and does not soak up the stock. You will need several sheets; as soon as a sheet is saturated with fat throw it away and use another until all of the floating fat is gone (at this stage the kitchen roll will start to soak up stock).
Now we have severely reduced the calories you should throw the meat back into stew and stir to mix. Breaking up the meat really makes it feel like you are eating a lot more meat than you actually are as every mouthful has some lovely, flavoursome, slow cooked oxtail in it.
Now for the final layer of flavour. Make a sort of roux with a couple of tablespoons of the removed fat, the flour and the mustard. Put it in a pan and cook gently for a few minutes whilst stirring to ensure it is fully mixed.
Now sieve in a little of the stew stock, whisking all the time. Once the liquid is fully mixed then add more of the stock, whisking all the time. Continue another couple of times until all of the stock is in the pan. Continue whisking until the mixture comes to the boil and allow it to simmer for a few minutes. Add pepper to taste. You should not need any salt but now is the time to add it if you wish. The stock should be a lovely, thick, rich, tasty sauce now.
Pour it back into the slow cooker and stir everything up. That’s it! An amazing, low calorie oxtail stew that just tastes so rich and satisfying that you will not be able to believe that it is not dirty.
I still have difficulty believing that I can consider eating this on one of my low days.
If you are on a low day enjoy this stunning stew on its own or with cauliflower cous cous. Alternatively, it is great with mashed potato or chips. Or even bread to dip in.
Try this stew. You will not regret it.
Suggestions for modifying this recipe
- There are a few suggestions discussed above; e.g. Use your favourite mushrooms or accompaniments.
- Change the type of mustard or even use horseradish sauce.
- Add different veg and different quantities of veg.
- Thicken the stock with red split lentils rather than the “roux”. They will need to cook in the stock for about 25 minutes and then be blitzed. Between 100g and 200g depending on how thick you want the stew.
Different Cooking Methods
Now please bear in mind that I have not actually tried using a different cooking method but the following should provide a useful guide.
- Pressure cooker. Rather than slow cooking cook at high pressure in a pressure cooker for about an hour. Everything else is the same.
- Oven. Rather than slow cooking cook at about 160 degC in the oven for three or four hours; until the meat falls off the bone when gentle pressure is applied.
- Hob. Rather than Pressure cooking simmer on the hob at the lowest possible level until the meat falls off the bone when gentle pressure is applied. I guess about three hours. You will need to stir regularly to avoid burning.
Enjoy😃
thedirtydiet 