Sunday 4 May 2014

Oxtail Soup

Welcome to my new follower Kita, via Bloglovin.

Friday afternoon, I finally cooked an oxtail that had been lurking in the freezer for most of the winter. After it had been strained and the bones allowed to go cold, I pulled the meat off them. The bones went into my council food bin ready for collection. Bones, onion and citrus skins, are the only things that get put out!

By the time we got back from a garden nursery on Saturday, I didn't have much time to get soup ready for dinner so here is what I did:

Quick Oxtail Soup - once bones are cooked!

The day before required, cover the oxtail with water (about 1/2" above them) and simmer for up to 2 hours until done. Strain and remove bones. Leave both to go cold then pick off meat. My saucepan is around 8" wide by 4" deep so I probably used about 2 pints of water.

To the jelly-like juice, add 2 cans of chopped tomatoes, 3 beef stock cubes, a rounded teaspoonful of mild paprika and some black pepper (I did about 15 grinds).

Bring to the boil, simmer for about 15 minutes, add 1/2 tube tomato paste and 1 good teaspoonful sugar. Add meat and simmer for another few minutes until meat is warmed through.

Whiz together with a stick blender or liquidizer, thicken with cornflour, adjust the taste and serve with salt and pepper if required.

This is what it looked like:
It tasted fabulous! If I had had more time, I was going to put 1oz of pearl barley in it, to help thicken it, but forgot. We shall have the rest for lunch today.

8 comments:

  1. Looks very tasty thank you for the recipe

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    1. You are welcome, hope you try it sometime.

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  2. It looks really delicious and I confess I love oxtail soup but usually have the Heinz variety!

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    1. We got 18 ladles from this recipe, so quite a lot more than several cans of soup. We too like Heinz but prefer to make it now.

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  3. Your soup looks so good I haven't had oxtail soup for years, I used to love the heinz, but love the look of yours, how much is oxtail to buy ?

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    1. No longer as cheap as it used to be. I wait until it is at a lower price before buying. Anything from £3 - £4 in most shops.

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  4. Oxtail is horribly expensive in my neck of the woods. Last one I saw was running $15+.

    Used to use Knorr powder mix but it's off the market, so Oxtail Soup is now off the menu here.

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    1. At the price I've quoted I too think it is expensive, we usually only have it once or twice a year. The problem seems to be that chefs get in on the act, create some new buzz recipe then everyone jumps on board and the price shoots up.

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