Amazing Slow Cooker Ox Tail Stew

Directions

• Trim as much of the visible fat from the tails as you can. You need a bit, but there’s usually plenty on it so you can trim it quite lean
• Dust the tails in a little salt and pepper, add the olive oil to a saute pan and on a medium high heat brown off the ox tails.
• Once sealed, place these in the bottom of the slow cooker. Cut the bacon into 2cm squares and in the same pan fry this off until coloured but not too crispy.
• Pour the fried bacon including any juices from the pan over the ox tails in the slow cooker.
• Chop all of the vegetables into 3cm chunks (doesn’t have to be exact, keep it rustic), chop the garlic and add everything along with the fresh herbs
• Add a generous amount of salt over the top (I use rock salt and added probably around 2 tablespoons) and some fresh ground black pepper.
• Pour the wine over first and then add stock to the pan until the liquid is probably about an inch from the top of the vegetables. You don’t need to cover it. If the liquid is way under that, then simply add boiling water until it’s about an inch under.
• To Cook
• Set the slow cooker on to low and cook for around 10 hours or so on low.
• After 10 hours, remove the ox tails and the meat should fall from the bones so you can discard them. Also, pick out any stems / stalks from the herbs and bin these also – including the bay leaves.
• “Pull” the ox tail meat using 2 forks to shred it and discard any larger pieces of fat if you find any. Once done, return back to the slow cooker stew and stir gently.
• Add the frozen peas at this stage too and stir in
• In a small bowl, mix the flour with some cold water to form a runny paste – not too thick, but make sure it’s smooth.
• Add the flour mixture to the stew and stir completely, making sure to get everything mixed in together.
• Cook on high in the slow cooker for another 45 – 60 minutes to thicken the stew.
• Once done, stir and serve with some crusty bread!