Hello again! If you follow me on Instagram, then you saw the oxtail that I made a couple weeks ago. I love oxtail for it's texture and richness. It's great in stew which is WHAT ELSE I did with it. But for this blog post I wanted to feature this more classy adaptation of oxtail, as a pasta filling.
This dish was on the opening menu at Julienne. It's so simple and the flavors are so clean. What I love about making filled pasta is that you can throw it in the freezer and it makes a great quality meal when you are short on time or when you don't want to cook.
That's what I did and 3lbs of oxtail made about 100 of these things. Which is about 14 portions at 7pcs per portion which was enough for me to feel satiated.
What are Oxtails exactly? Well, they are literally the tail of the cattle. They are cut into pieces for market and they are typically used in soups and braises, as I did here for this pasta filling. Oxtail is insanely gelatin rich as well so they make a really full body broth, which I used for a sauce.
I season with just salt and pepper and then I brown them off in some olive oil in a hot pan.
After they browned on both sides I added
1 Onion
2 Carrots
2 Celery Stalks
4 Cloves of Garlic
some rosemary
enough water to cover the bones
I brought that all to a simmer and then put it in the oven for 4 hours at 350 degrees. After 4 hours the meat should be fork tender and it should be peeling back from the bone a little bit.
Below is a little video of the oxtails getting checked for doneness. You don't want to overcook them or they will dry out, but they should easily come off the bone. These are done..
Then I allow them to cool a bit and then just pull the meat off the bone (I use my hands but I wear gloves) and then I place them into the kitchen aid mixer with the paddle attachment and just a spoonful of the braising liquid. **You have to do this while the oxtails are warm to get the proper results. Once it is spun and sufficiently/evenly broken up you can set it aside and make your pasta dough.
The recipe for Pasta Dough is located in a previous blog post about Ravioli.
Unfortunately I didn't take a video of us shaping the tortellinis. But there are plenty of videos on youtube on the proper technique on how to fold them. You could also just make ravioli in the shape that I displayed in the video on the link above. When you are the chef, you do it your way!
This post is meant more to get you thinking about different ways to use oxtail.
It is my opinion that you shouldn't bother cooking less than about 3# at a time so that is my minimum for special orders. If you are interested, give me a shout.
Stay tuned for a BIG recipe drop coming up in my next post. I am going to be giving out my recipe for Bouillabaisse and I am going to be running a special on Scallops and Shrimp to coincide with this so that you can get your seafood stew on!
Be Well,
Justin West
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