As you know I’m currently taking some time off from the blog but I have lined up some guest posts for you during this time. Today I’m happy to have Angela from Paleo Kitchen Lab sharing her recipe for Oxtail and Romaine Stir Fry.
******
The Paleo Diet has opened my eyes to so many new foods. Years ago, I used to buy oxtail bones for my small dog to gnaw on. I’d give it to him right out of the butcher paper, but I never thought to eat it myself. Then when I learnt about the health benefits of bone broth I started experimenting with making it from different types of bones.
Meaty and collagen-rich oxtail bones are by far my favourite bone for broth because of their rich flavor. After stewing, the meat becomes super soft in a fall-off-the-bone way and you can use the meat after you’re done cooking the broth.
To make oxtail broth I usually put 2 pounds of oxtail bones in my crockpot*, fill it with 4 quarts of water, add two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and turn it on low for 24 hours. Some people like to roast the oxtails first at 350F for a half hour, for a richer taste but I cut the extra step because I like to save time and it tastes great the way I make it.
After the broth is done, I take out the oxtail bones with a ladle and put them in a bowl. After they cool I remove the meat from the bone with a fork. It falls off easily. The meats seems fatty but the fat is collagen-based and extremely healing for the gut lining.
So what do you do with the oxtail meat?
You can throw it in stir fries or curries, or swap it in place of ground beef in recipes, you can even eat it straight with a little bit of salt. I made my favourite oxtail dish for my birthday last year, there were only 5 ingredients so it was incredibly easy to throw together and a super healthy mix of meat and greens. And I couldn’t get enough because it tasted so good!
Most people don’t realise that you can stir fry lettuce, but cooking it makes it easier to digest. It cooks as well as spinach and has a light and delicate flavour which is the perfect delicate accompaniment to the heavy oxtail.
I hope you enjoy my oxtail and romaine stir fry as much as I did!
Oxtail and Romaine Stir Fry
Ingredients:
- 1 head romaine lettuce*, finely chopped.
- 1/2 red onion, diced.
- 2 lbs oxtail meat, shredded off the bone.
- 1 Tbsp grass-fed butter or cooking fat of choice.
- Salt, to taste.
Method:
Sauté the red onion in butter (or fat of choice) on medium heat until the onions start to turn translucent.
Add the chopped romaine leaves and sauté for a few minutes until they start to wilt. Add in the oxtail meat and stir in with the lettuce.
Sprinkle on some salt and cook until the oxtail meat is hot and the romaine leaves have completely wilted.
If oxtail is already prepared, chopping and cooking takes 20 minutes total.
* If you don’t have a crockpot (slow cooker) to make oxtail bone broth, just boil the oxtail bones in a pot of water on medium low heat for 45 minutes to an hour.
* If you ever have romaine lettuce languishing in the fridge, about to go off, throw it in the pan and sauté with butter and your protein of choice (but once you’ve tried oxtail you maybe as hooked on it as I am!).
Angela Privin loves to play and experiment with grain-free recipes in her kitchen. Aside from being a creative outlet, the Paleo diet helped Angela heal from Irritable Bowel Syndrome 9 years ago. Now she shares her love of this fun and healing diet with the world through her blog Paleo Kitchen Lab. You can also find Angela on Facebook and Pinterest.
Agreed! 🙂
Oxtail is so darn delicious! I’m going to pin this recipe for later 🙂