Puerto Rican Oxtail Soup Recipes

Steps:

• In a large kettle, place the beef broth, oxtais, tomatoes, onions, corn, peppers, garlic, coriander and zucchini.
• Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 1 hour, or until the oxtails and vegetables are fork-tender.
• With a skimmer or a slotted spoon, take the vegetables from the pot and place into a blender or food processor.
• Add 3/4 cup of the stock from the pot and blend briefly at low speed with the lid ajar to allow steam to escape and then at high speed for 30 seconds. (Be careful - hot foods covered and processed in a blender can cause the top to "pop" and you may be burned. Allow for a bit of steam to escape).
• Pour the vegetable puree back into the pot.
• Stir in the tomato puree, salt, and pepper; bring to a boil and add the orzo.
• Cook over medium heat, uncovered, stirring, for 5 minutes, or until the past is still a bit chewy.
• The meat will have cooked from the bones.
• Remove and but up the meat and return to the pot; discarding the bones.
• Taste for seasoning; serve.

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until smoking. Brown the oxtail in batches, and set aside. Add onion, garlic, and bell pepper to the pot; cook, stirring constantly, until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes.
• Pour in white wine, bring to a simmer, and cook for 5 minutes. Add browned oxtail, beef broth, chocolate, and bay leaves. Return to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 3 hours.
• Season with salt and paprika, stir in carrots, recover, and allow to simmer until carrots are tender.

Steps:

• Rehydrate dried mushrooms in hot water for 30 to 45 minutes. Drain, and slice.
• Trim all fat off oxtails. Spread on a shallow roasting pan. Roast at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for 45 minutes. Drain off fat, reserving about 2 tablespoons.
• Add 1 cup of water to roasting pan in which oxtails were browned. Heat, stirring constantly, to dissolve browned bit. Reserve.
• In a large stock pot, saute onion, carrots, parsnip, mushrooms and turnip in reserved fat until soft, about 10 minutes. Add browned oxtails. Drizzle brandy over the saute. Ignite.
• Pour reserved water and browning over the oxtails and vegetables. Add remaining 5 cups of water. Add savory, bay leaf, barley, salt, and pepper. Bring to boil, and then reduce heat. Cover, and simmer slowly for 2 hours. Adjust seasonings.

Steps:

• Whisk vino seco, 1/4 cup olive oil, and salt together in a large bowl. Add oxtails and mix well to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for 12 hours.
• Drain oxtails, discarding all but 1/2 cup of the marinade.
• Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and sear oxtails until browned on all sides, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a large plate. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in the same pot. Saute potatoes, onion, and carrots until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
• Mash garlic and 1/2 teaspoon salt into a coarse paste in a mortar and pestle. Add garlic paste to the pot; stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in green olives, bay leaves, sazon completa, sazon seasoning, and allspice. Pour in reserved marinade, tomato sauce, and chicken broth.
• Return oxtails to the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, until oxtails are fork tender and falling off the bone, about 4 hours.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Pat oxtails dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat oil in pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown oxtails in batches without crowding, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes per batch. Transfer as browned to a bowl. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from pot.
• Remove and discard casing from chorizo, then finely chop sausage in food processor.
• Cook chorizo, onion, carrots, garlic, and bay leaf in fat in pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, 6 to 7 minutes. Add paprika and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add wine and bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up any brown bits. Add oxtails with any juices accumulated in bowl and chopped tomatoes (liquid should come about halfway up sides of meat) and bring to a boil.
• Cover pot and braise oxtails in lower third of oven, turning once or twice, until very tender, 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Skim fat from sauce, then stir in parsley, cilantro, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.

Steps:

• Peel and cut the yuca, yautia, green plantain and yellow plantain into 1-inch pieces. Scrape out the seeds, then chop the calabaza, skin on, into 1-inch pieces. Put each ingredient in a separate bowl, adding water to cover vegetables in order to prevent them from turning brown while you prepare the rest of the soup.
• Husk the corn, then slice it into 2-inch-thick segments. Set aside.
• Season pork (or beef) and chicken with 1/2 tablespoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.
• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large pot over medium-high. Add the pork and brown on all sides for 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a clean, large bowl, then add the chicken to the same pot, and brown on both sides for another 5 minutes, adding oil as needed if the pot gets dry. Transfer with a slotted spoon to the same bowl as the pork.
• Reduce heat to medium and add sofrito to the pot, scraping up any browned bits of meat and incorporating them into the mix. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until liquid has evaporated and mixture darkens in color.
• Return the pork, chicken and any accumulated juices to the pot. Add the stock, bay leaves and remaining 1 tablespoon salt, and bring to a boil over high heat. Once simmering, reduce heat to medium-low and cook uncovered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• To keep the vegetables from falling apart, add each one in order of firmness, cooking each for 5 minutes before adding the next. Begin with the yuca, then yautia, green plantain, yellow plantain, calabaza and corn, cooking the yuca for a total of 30 minutes and the corn for only 5 minutes.
• Add chorizo and stir well to incorporate. Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes over medium-low heat until meat and vegetables are tender and break easily with a fork. Because of all the starches and meat in this dish, this stew tends to be thick and rich. Some of the vegetables will fall apart, giving it a porridge consistency. This is a good thing.
• Adjust salt to taste, and serve with fresh bread or white rice on the side.