Food & Wine
Braised beef cheeks
These beef cheeks have a rich sauce that is transformed by the cacao powder.
Ingredients:
- 2 beef cheeks (around 500g each)
- Ghee or butter for frying
- 1 large carrot, cut into small chunks
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 stick celery, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon cacao or cocoa powder
- 750ml bottle red wine, chianti or shiraz
- 2 cups beef bone broth or stock
- 1 sprig each rosemary and thyme
For the mash
- ½ whole bulb of garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 sprigs thyme
- Olive oil for drizzling
- 5 large carrots, peeled and chopped
- ½ celeriac, peeled and chopped
- ½ swede, peeled and chopped
- 1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
- 60g butter
Method:
- Season beef cheeks with salt and pepper. Heat a knob of ghee or butter in a large, heavy-based pan and sear beef until well browned all over. Remove from pan.
- Add carrot, onion, celery and garlic to pan and sauté 8-10 minutes until softened and golden. Add cacao or cocoa and stir for a minute then remove vegetables from pan.
- Add half the wine to the pan, scrape the bottom to loosen all the goodness, then add remaining wine and simmer until reduced by almost half.
- Add stock and herb sprigs, beef cheeks and sautéed vegetables. Cover and simmer over low heat for 4-5 hours. The beef is done when you can push a fork into the meat and it breaks apart easily. Remove from pan and blitz remaining stock and vegetables with a stick blender to make a smooth gravy. For a thicker consistency, simmer until reduced. Serve beef cheeks with the gravy and root vegetable mash.
For the mash
- Heat oven to 200°C. Wrap garlic in tinfoil with bay leaf, a few thyme leaves and a little olive oil. Roast 40 minutes or until soft.
- Cook carrots, celeriac, swede and parsnip in boiling water until soft. Drain and mash with roasted garlic (squeezed from skins), butter and remaining chopped thyme. Season to taste.
Written by Andrew McKenna. First appeared on Stuff.co.nz. Image credit: Stuff.co.nz / Rachel McKenna.