Braised Ox Tail with Star Anise

I got this recipe from Annabel Langbein a well know NZ TV and Radio foodie. Its very typical of the Asian fusion flavours that are so popular here. Star Anise is an ingredient that really excites me, it looks funky, smells gorgeous and has the most amazing relationship with meat. Annabel says it better than me...

"This easy dish is sure to earn you compliments. Asian flavours blend with tomato and orange to give the oxtail a spicy kick and a rich, dark hue. It's one of those wonderful meals that require very little preparation and cook slowly until the meat is meltingly tender after a couple of hours. I often make it a day ahead to allow the flavours to develop. It freezes well, and you can also use lamb shanks, or make it with stewing beef (use about 1.5kg cut into decent-sized chunks and browned in a pan instead of in the oven)."

Ingredients

• 8-22 pieces (2-2.4kg) oxtail or beef shin
• salt and ground black pepper
• 2 cups tomato juice
• 2 cups water
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup soy sauce 
• 4 whole star anise
• 4 dried chillies
• 2 thumb-sized pieces fresh ginger, thinly sliced (18 slices)
• rind of ½ orange, removed with a potato peeler so there is no pith
• 1 whole head garlic, cloves peeled, halved and trimmed.

Weigh the tail, mine is only 800g.

So I will only be doing one third of the recipe.

Pre-heat oven to 220°C and line a large roasting dish with baking paper for easy clean-up. 

Season the oxtail with salt and pepper and arrange in a single layer in the roasting dish.

Roast for 30 minutes until well browned. 

 

Remove oxtails from the roasting dish, discard fat and place oxtails into a lidded casserole dish.

Look here is the mess ready to toss out, I rinsed the paper and recycled it later. 

 

In a separate bowl, combine the tomato juice, water, sugar, vinegar and soy sauce.

The orange rind removed with a potato peeler so there is no pith.

The Garlic:1 whole head garlic, cloves peeled, halved and trimmed, I always remove the shoot from the center.

Pour the liquid over the browned meat, scatter with the star anise, chillies, sliced ginger, orange rind and garlic cloves.

Cover with a piece of baking paper to stop any exposed meat from drying out. That’s the paper from earlier!

And then cover the dish with a tight fitting lid.     

Turn the oven down to 180˚C and cook for 2½ hours until very tender.

Obviously I have elected to use my trusty slow cooker on account of there being baking happening in the oven.

And that is where I have to leave you for now.... the lid comes off tomorrow! Which is when you get the serving pictures of the finished dish.

My first ever photo commentary - was fun.