A French inspired stew with red wine, thyme and garlic.  The meat is braised in red wine. Braising comes from the French word ‘braiser’ and involves both frying the meat at a high temperature to sear then cooking the meat slowly in liquid  in a covered pot.  

• Serves 4
• 3 1/2 lbs oxtail
• 2 celery sticks
• 4 small red onions sliced
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 1 whole garlic bulb
• 1 1/2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1/2 dozen thyme sprigs
• 4 carrots chopped chunky
• 3 tsp Brown Sugar
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 60ml olive oil
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cups good quality red wine (French if possible)
• approx. 1/2 pint of good quality beef stock
• (Serve with buttery mashed potatoes)

• Empty the flour into a bowl with the sea salt and pepper mix well. Coat the oxtail in the flour.
• Place oil and butter in a frying pan, add in the onions. Let these cook until golden.
• With a slotted spoon remove and place into the oven dish (or crock pot for hob)
• Using the same frying pan add in the oxtail keep the heat high, again you are searing this to get a good colour.
• Turn the meat so each side is browned. Once they all have a good colour remove and place with the onions in the pot.
• Tuck in chunks of celery, carrots, thyme and the garlic which I just chopped the whole bulb into half.
• Now splash some red wine into the hot frying pan to de-glaze and then pour over the onion and meat.
• Pour the rest of the wine to the pot.
• Stir in the tomato paste, sugar and add the stock. Just pour in enough stock to ‘just’ cover the meat.
• Cover well.
• OVEN: Heat oven to max. Cook on highest heat for 25 minutes, then turn the oven down to 180 degrees. Cook for around 2/3 hours or until the meat falls off the bone. Once it is tender remove lid and let the sauce reduce and meat colour for another 20 minutes.
• HOB: With the heat on the highest get the pan to a boil then turn down and cook on low for about 3 hours. Keeping the lid on, until the meat is tender. Again, once tender un-cover, I removed the meat at this point and then turned the heat up and let the sauce reduce a little before adding the meat back to the pan.
• Half way through each of the above options taste the sauce and see if it needs anymore seasoning.
  
• Serve with buttery mashed potato.