Tasty and Delicious Red Wine Braised Oxtail
Red Wine Braised Oxtail cooked in Malbec wine with spinach and carrots to create a delicious, healthy, and aromatic dish to enjoy with a side of boiled plantains, potatoes, and even rice or quinoa.
With all my kitchen dilemmas this past weekend I finally made good use of my crockpot. It was a lifesaver! I made my delicious Red Wine Braised Oxtail, or I usually call it Oxtail cooked in Malbec wine with Carrots and Spinach. Did you notice that I said Malbec? Yes indeed.
Buy cheap wine or expensive wine
I might have said this several times, but a great red wine goes very well with red meat. It is not necessary to buy the most expensive wine. I am speaking about using wine that you enjoy drinking and use for cooking.
Buying cheap wines to cook just because you don’t want to spend a lot of money should not even be something to think about. You should always cook with the wine you drink and enjoy.
Several wines are quite delicious and aromatic that will make meat or seafood dishes appetizing. A price tag of $20, which I may suggest may be the best investment, you ever made. Just remember it should be the maximum amount to spend when cooking with wine and if you are also using the full bottle.
A dish of oxtail is a delicious stew because of the natural gelatin in the meat. Oxtail usually has an excessive amount of fat and should be removed before cooking. After cooking it is advised to remove most of the remaining fat.
Adding the right hot sauce is necessary
Cooking red meat with the right spices is essential. I added Noubess Mango Hot Sauce for more flavor. The hot sauce and the Malbec wine redefined the taste of the oxtail.
The spiciness of the hot sauce elevated the aroma and taste of the wine. The right marriage of flavors.
To add a little more texture to the dish, a roux is prepared and added to the wine. The Red Wine Braised Oxtail is then finished with fresh spinach and carrots. The vegetables add more flavors to the meat and will deliver a delicious, healthy, and aromatic dish to enjoy with a side of boiled plantains, potatoes, and even rice or quinoa.
Enjoy this Red Wine Braised Oxtail recipe with your favorite side dish.
Red Wine Braised Oxtail
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 4 pounds oxtails trimmed of fat
- Lemon or vinegar
- 2 medium onions chopped
- 3 scallions chopped
- 4 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 4 to matoes chopped
- 1 celery stalk chopped
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon Noubess Hot Sauce or more if preferred
- 1 ½ tablespoons kosher salt
- Black pepper to taste
- 3 cups beef stock
- 2 cups red wine (Argentinean Malbec preferably)
- 1 whole hot pepper habanero or Scotch bonnet, optional
- 2 – 3 cups fresh spinach shredded
- 2 carrots sliced
- Additional salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- To make a roux, put 2 tablespoons of the oil in a small saucepan, add flour, and cook gently while stirring with a spatula preferably, until it becomes a nutty brown color.
- Add oxtails in a large bowl and either clean by running lemon wedges on the meat or rinse the meat with a mixture of vinegar and water. Rinse under running water, pat dry and set aside.
- In another heavy bottom skillet, heat about 2 – 3 tablespoons of oil. Add onions, scallions, garlic, and sauté for about 3 – 5 minutes stirring constantly. Add the smaller pieces of oxtail, thyme, tomatoes, celery, bay leaves, mango gourmet hot sauce, salt and black pepper to taste and sauté until browned. Transfer to slow cooker or crockpot.
- Add remaining oil to the skillet and sauté the larger pieces of oxtail until browned on all sides. Remove and add to crockpot or slow cooker. Pour off the fat from the skillet, add the wine and bring to a boil while scrapping the bottom of the pan. Keep cooking the wine until it becomes syrupy and almost disappears.
- Stir in the roux slowly until well mixed. Slowly add the beef stock, bring to a boil while stirring to mix completely. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour wine mixture over the oxtail in the crockpot or slow cooker. Add whole hot pepper if using.
- Cook on high for 6 hours until the meat is falling off the bone. After 4 ½ hours of cooking, add spinach and stir. Cover and continue to cook. When fully cooked, remove and set aside for a few minutes and skim the fat off top.
- Serve with rice.
- Optional: After adding the spinach, add 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, salt and black pepper to taste and stir.
Notes
Nutrition
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on the products used.
Nutrition info is automatically generated and provided as a courtesy and as an estimate only.
Originally published 1/18/2016
