Rabo de Toro

Rabo de toro, or stewed oxtail is a typical Spanish meal eaten in fall and winter when the weather provokes an appetite for warm stews and soups.  This week here in Logroño we have begun to feel the chill of winter, and so Abuela Pili and I decided to make something warm and cozy for lunch.  This easy, slow recipe consists of the tail of a bull, cut into pieces, and stewed into submission with onions and carrots until the meat is so tender it falls off the bone.  Try it out, you won't be disappointed! 

Abuela Pili and I preparing the sliced onions.

Ingredients: (for 6 people)

3 small white onions, sliced

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 oxtail, sliced into 1 inch pieces

2 cups olive oil

Salt (to taste)

1 cup flour

2 cloves garlic

1 cup water

1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley

1 1/2 cups white wine
1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorns

Your rabo de ternera.  I call the recipe rabo de toro but the only difference is that ternera is cow and toro is bull.  This recipe in particular was done with ternera.  In general, using toro makes the flavor of the meat stronger. 

Cut your ternera into pieces.  It should come cut into slices already (if you ask the butcher to do so), but cut apart any stringy stragglers.

Salt and rub both sides of the ternera.  Then, take your flour and thoroughly cover the ternera pieces.

Heat up your frying pan with 2 cups of olive oil until it's sizzling hot.

Add your pieces of ternera and fry them about 3 minutes on each side before you take them off the heat.

In a giant pot, add your onions and carrots, and sprinkle them with salt.

Place the fried ternera pieces on top of the onions and carrots, and add half of the olive oil from the frying pan.

Using a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic and parsley. 

Pour over top the ternera and carrots and onions.

Pour your white wine over top, and sprinkle your peppercorns over top.

Set it on the burner, at the lowest temperature.

Cover it up, and check in on it every half hour or so.  It shouldn't burn on the bottom because it's at such a low temperature and because there should be enough liquid to keep it from doing so, but check in on it every so often to make sure.  It should be done within 2 hours, but check to make sure the veggies are tender and the meat is cooked all the way through.  As I said before, the meat should fall from the bone.  

Buen Provecho!