Appetizers/ Recipes/ Soups, congee and stews

{Recipe} Red wine braised oxtail dumplings

I got inspired to make the oxtail dumpling from an episode of Diners Drivers and Dives on Food Network Canada, when Guy Fieri travelled to Italy. During the eposide, the Chef made homemade tortelli stuffed with stewed oxtail. He blanched the dumplings and pan fried the tortelli, and served with great quality olive oil.

I modified the recipe, but loved the idea of slow cooking oxtail and using it as the stuffing for dumplings. I did not have time to make fresh pasta, so I used wonton wrappers instead which was light and eaten best as a dumpling in soup. I served the dumplings with a hearty beef broth.

My daughter is allergic to eggs, so I did not use any eggs to bind the ingredients or use it to seal the wonton. I felt that it was not needed, but feel free to eggs in your version.

Feel free to make the oxtail stew ahead of time to save time. I only used 2 out of the 4 pieces of oxtail for the filling.

Makes about 25 dumplings

Ingredients:
1 pound of oxtail (4 pieces of oxtail)
1 carrot-small dice
1 celery- small dice
4 cloves of garlic-minced
1 can of whole tomatoes (540 ml)
1/2 bottle of red wine
4 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
1/2 can of tomato paste
4 sprigs of fresh thyme -tie the bundle with a string
2 cups of water
2 cups of beef broth (mine was homemade)
Cooking oil
Extra virgin olive oil
Handful of flat leaf parsley
1 package of wonton wrappers (1 pound)

Cooking Steps:
1. Season the oxtail with salt and pepper. Brown the oxtail in a pot with some oil. Remove the oxtail from the pot and set aside.

2. Using the same pot, cook the onions, garlic, carrots and celery, followed by the tomato paste.

Oxtail stew prep work

3. Add the oxtail back into the pot, followed by the red wine, water and beef broth. Add in the bay leaves and the thyme. Add a pinch of salt.

4. Cook on slow for 4-5 hours.

5. Check periodically, make sure there’s sufficient liquid levels and stir the mixture to make sure the bottom doesn’t stick.

Assembling steps:

1. Remove the meat from the oxtail. Add in a few spoon full of the vegetables from the pot and add in fresh parsley. Let the mixture cool.

2. Add in 2 tsp of extra virgin olive oil and taste. Adjust with more salt or pepper if needed. Feel free to add an egg instead of oil.

3. Pulse the ingredients in a food processor (I used the Magic Bullet).

Filling

4. Add half a teaspoon of the mixture into a wonton wrapper. Wetting all sides of the wonton with water, add the top layer of the wonton and squeeze out as much air pockets. Feel free to use egg whites to make the wontons stick, rather than water.

Oxtail dumplings

5. Add the wonton to the broth or a pot of boiling water. As the inside is cooked, the wonton cooks in a few minutes or when the sides start to become translucent.