Oxtail Stuffed Peppers Recipes

STUFFED PIQUILLO PEPPERS

Steps:

• To make the sauce: In a blender, drop in the tomatoes and garlic and blend until well chopped. Add the olive oil, white wine, and salt and blend until finely pureed; set aside.
• To make the stuffing: In a medium sized pot half filled with boiling water, boil the dried cod for about 10 minutes until rehydrated. Drain and put the codfish into a blender. Add the white wine, garlic, parsley, and salt and blend everything together. Then, in a medium sized bowl, whisk together the milk and flour. Add this mixture to the codfish mixture in the blender and puree until it's the consistency of mashed potatoes. Heat a medium skillet over medium-low heat, pour in the codfish stuffing mixture, and cook just until the mixture is heated through. Put the mixture into a medium sized bowl and let it cool before stuffing the peppers.
• To stuff the peppers: With a small spoon, carefully stuff about 1/2 teaspoon of the codfish mixture inside each pepper. It should fill the pepper's cavity but should not be falling out. Continue until all the peppers have been filled.
• To finish the dish: In a large nonstick skillet on medium-low heat, add the sauce for the peppers. Then very carefully place each pepper in the pan and cook for about 15 minutes, or until heated through. Gently take each pepper out of the pan and place on a serving platter. Spoon the sauce over the peppers and garnish with 2 tablespoons chopped parsley.

PIQUILLO PEPPERS STUFFED WITH OXTAIL

Steps:

• Place the oxtails, wine, thyme and onion into a pot and cover with water. Simmer for about 2 hours, skimming often. Remove the oxtails and, when cool enough to touch, take the meat off the bones and shred. In the meantime, reduce braising liquid to a glace and strain through a fine sieve. Heat olive oil over medium heat and saute the carrots, celery and shredded meat. When the vegetables are tender, add garlic, parsley and season with salt and pepper. Add a little of the strained braising liquid to moisten. Stuff each pepper with a little of the meat mixture. Serve right away with a drizzle of the glace and garnish with parsley.

THE BEST STUFFED PEPPERS

Steps:

• If your peppers don't sit upright on your cutting board, trim about 1/8-inch off the bottoms to even them out so they can stand without falling over. Cut the top off each pepper about 1/2-inch down. Remove and discard the stems, then finely chop the remaining flesh from the tops. Scoop out the seeds and as much of the membranes as you can. Place the peppers in a large microwave-safe bowl with 1/2 cup water. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high power for 12 minutes. Carefully uncover and let them sit until ready to assemble.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Spread the beef in an even layer and cook undisturbed until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Toss and continue to cook, breaking up any clumps with the back of a spoon and scraping up any browned bits from the pan until the meat is lightly browned all over, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer the browned meat to a large bowl with a slotted spoon.
• Reduce the heat to medium. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and add the reserved chopped peppers, onions, garlic, thyme, 4 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until falling apart and much of the liquid has evaporated, about 7 minutes.
• Stir in the tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly until brick red colored, about 1 minute. Stir in the wine and cook until the mixture is reduced, very thick and no smell of alcohol remains, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Transfer to the bowl with the beef. Stir in the rice until completely combined. (The mixture will be wet.) Season with salt and pepper.
• Arrange a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees F.
• Place the peppers cut-side up in a 13-by-9-inch baking dish. Spoon the filling into the peppers, gently pressing it in with the back of a spoon. Be careful not to overstuff and split the sides of the peppers. Bake for 15 minutes. Then top with the cheese and continue baking until the filling is heated through and the cheese is browned in spots, 10 to 12 minutes.

OXTAIL-STUFFED PEPPERS

Steps:

• Discard the narrow end section of each oxtail. Season the rest with salt and pepper and brown over high heat in a 6-quart casserole or braising pan. Remove. Reduce heat to low. Add 2/3 of the diced onions, the sliced garlic clove and the ham. Sauté until onions are soft.
• Meanwhile, by hand or in food processor, finely chop the remaining onion and garlic with the green pepper and the parsley. Mix with the tomato. Add to the pan when the onions are soft, and reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring, until all vegetables are soft. Stir in the bay leaf, chili flakes, wine and stock. Raise heat and bring to a simmer.
• Return oxtails to pan, baste, cover and reduce heat to very low. Cook about 3 hours, turning once, until meat is fork tender. Remove oxtails to cool. Strain liquid and reserve, discarding solids. Finely chop or shred meat and mix with 2/3 cup of the liquid.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Stuff peppers with meat. Pour 1 cup liquid into a shallow baking dish. (The rest can be saved for another use.) Arrange peppers in dish and bake until heated through, 15 minutes.