How To Cook Oxtail Casserole

Name: How To Cook Oxtail Casserole
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 4 h
Total time: 4 h 30 min
Yield: 4

Ingredients

Preheat oven 130°c fan assisted or 150°c without a fan (gas 2) or set the slow cooker.
Make a Mirepoix by neatly chopping equal amounts of onion, carrot and celery or my preferred choice of celeriac, the root of the celery plus the spices and the garlic cloves.
Take a large, heavy-based frying pan, and add a little oil & fry the oxtail and bacon on all sides then transfer to a casserole dish or slow cooker.
Next fry the mirepoix in the same pan until lightly browned then add red wine, reduce by two thirds then add tomato puree, orange peel & the beef stock then reduce a little, thicken with a tablespoon cornflour mixed with a little cold water stirred into the boiling broth.
Pour the sauce over the oxtail and vegetables then cover with a tight-fitting lid & place in the oven and cook for 3 hours, the meat should be tender & falling away from the bone.
When cooked pass off the sauce through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan, add the prunes then reduce to a glossy finish then pour back over the meat ready to serve discarding the vegetables & spices.