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Pressure Cooker Oxtail in Tomato Sauce with Papperdelle Pasta
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Pressure Cooker Oxtail and Pappardelle Pasta

Delicious chunks of tender oxtail meat and pappardelle pasta takes comfort food to a new level. Made in a pressure cooker, this fabulous dish is on your table much quicker then conventional methods. 
Course Dinner
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 5 people + extra
Calories 497kcal
Author Scruff

Ingredients

  • 500 gm pappardelle or pasta of your choice

Meat Sauce

  • 1.5 kg beef oxtail, washed and cleaned
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves peeled and finely chopped
  • 2 carrots, peeled and very finely chopped
  • 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
  • 8 white cup mushrooms, sliced
  • 700 ml passata or tomato puree
  • 1/2 tsp salt (adjust the seasoning at the end)
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • freshly cracked pepper (to your taste)
  • 2 bay leaves

Garnish (Optional)

  • parsley, finely chopped
  • parmesan cheese, finely grated
  • dried chilli flakes

Instructions

  • Prepare all your vegetables.
  • Prepare the oxtail by washing them under a tap to remove any small pieces of bone. Dry the oxtail with a paper towel and trim off as much excess fat as you want. (Note 1)
  • In a fry pan, add 1 tbsp of oil and saute all the vegetables for 10 minutes on medium high. 
  • After 10 minutes, add the sauteed vegetables to the pressure cooker and the rest of the meat sauce ingredients except the oxtails. Stir with a wooden spoon until completely combined.  Then add the oxtails and cover them in the sauce, 
  • Cook on high pressure (I use the meat / stew setting) for 50 mins to 1 hour. (Note 2)
  • Carefully depressurize the cooker and remove the lid as instructed in your pressure cooker manual.
  • Using a spoon, remove the desired amount of fat suspended on top of the sauce. (Try to leave some fat since it adds great flavour and richness to the sauce)
  • Remove the oxtails from the pot and let them cool. Once they can be handled, pull the meat off into chunks and add them back to the sauce. Or skip this step and serve the oxtails whole.
  • Boil plenty of water with a good pinch of salt and cook the pasta as directed on the packaging. Strain your pasta once it's done.
  • Check the seasoning of your sauce and adjust according to your taste.  Also, check the thickness of your sauce. Allow the sauce to reduce further if you like it richer and thicker by using the saute function on your pressure cooker.

To Serve

  • Serve the dish with either the sauce mixed through or on top of the pasta and garnish with finely chopped parsley, Parmesan cheese and dried chilli flakes.

Notes

  1. Try to get oxtails that have been cut at the joints and not through the bone. This will prevent small pieces of hard bone floating in your sauce. If this is not possible, scrub the oxtails with your fingers under a tap to remove as much bone debris as you can.  
  2. At 50 mins, all small oxtails will be falling off the bone while medium to large ones will still have some bite. At the 1 hr 10 min mark, all sizes of oxtails will be falling off the bone or very close to it. I personally prefer all my oxtails to be falling off the bone.