Oxtail machaca with poached egg

Final plate

The other day I bought some oxtail as it was on sale. Is it just me, or has oxtail tripled its price in recent years?

Usually I make oxtails with lentils or beans. but was not quite in the mood for a cold night’s dinner. So thanks to a Facebook group I belong to, I decided to make something I had never made before.  As I had never made Machaca, I started to google and read all types of recipes so to inspire me. As usual, I had to give my own twist to the traditional recipe.

I started by seasoning the oxtails with salt and cracked pepper. then I browned the oxtails in hot olive oil. Once all sides were nice and golden, I added water to cover them up, and let it simmer for about 3 to 4 hours until the meat came out of the bones very easily. Then I removed the oxtail out of the pot, preserving its broth (not quite sure yet what I will use this for, one thing is for sure, it won’t go to waste).

Princess stealing cooked oxtail

As it was cooling off I wondered if I would have enough meat as my toddler kept on “stealing” some every 5 seconds. Thankfully I was able to convince her instead to try to remove all the leftover meat from the bones and clean them well. But here are of the the ingredients and exact directions I followed. Again this is not the traditional Machaca.

INGREDIENTS

About 20 to 25 pieces of oxtail
3 tbsp of olive oil
water
1 finely chopped medium size yellow onion
1 diced green pepper
3 diced tomatos
1 jalapeño pepper finely cut
6 eggs
1 bunch of cilantro
2 cups of the oxtail broth
shredded cheese
salt & pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Place all of the oxtail inside a large bowl and season it well with salt and freshly cracked pepper.
2. Bring a large pot, or dutch oven to high heat with 1tbsp of olive oil.
3. Sautée all sides of the oxtail until nice and brown.
4. Fill the pot with water so that it fully covers all of the oxtail and bring the heat to a low simmer and leave it for about 3 to 4 hours (if you need to step away for a while or if you started preparing it prior to leaving to work, an idea is to place oxtail and water into a crockpot in low, for the day and your meat will be ready when you get home).
5. Once the meat is falling off the bones, remove it from the broth to cool down prior to shredding it.
6. In a large skillet, warm up the rest of the olive oil and sautée the onions, green peppers and jalapeño (you can omit the jalapeños and create a side sauce with it by simmering a cup of the oxtail broth with the cut up jalapeño, then each person can add however much spicy heat to their own plates).
7. Once golden in color, add the shredded oxtail meat followed by the diced tomatos and half the cilantro leaves.
8. Bring heat to a simmer and add 2 cups of the oxtail broth, then crack the eggs so to poach them over the meat mixture. Cover the skillet. Check if eggs are cooked after 3 minutes.
9. Serve over some white rice (or in tortillas) making sure each plate has one egg and decorate it with the remainder cilantro and shredded cheese.