Beef Cheeks with Herbed Sauce

Cook Time 3 hours 15 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 beef cheeks (250g each), all sinew removed and trimmed well

300ml dry sherry

500ml red wine

1 onion, quartered

1 carrot, cut chunks

1 stalk celery, chopped

3 cloves garlic, bruised

1 tbsp plain flour

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 bouquet garni (1 bay leaf, 3 thyme sprigs and 3 flat-leaf parsley sprigs tied together)

500ml beef or veal stock

Salt & pepper

Potato puree, to serve

For the herb sauce

1 small garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

Large handful of mint and parsley leaves peeled and finely

60ml extra virgin olive oil

Method

Remove the cheeks from the fridge 1 hour before cooking and preheat the oven to 160 ̊ C.

Heat the oil in a deep ovenproof sauté pan over medium-high heat. Sear the beef cheeks, in batches, ensuring they are well browned on each side. Season the meat with salt and pepper and remove from the pan. Add the vegetables and cook for another 5-8 minutes to colour. Add the flour and cook off for a minute then add the tomato paste and stir through. Return the beef with its juices, followed by the sherry and wine and bouquet garni and bring to the boil.

Add the stock, place a cartouche (a piece of baking paper cut to the size of the pan) on top and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Transfer to the oven, cook for 1½ hours, turn the meat and return to the oven to cook for a further 1½ hours, or until the meat is very tender and almost falls apart.

For the green sauce, combine the ingredients together.

Remove the meat and place in a shallow platter. Strain the sauce into a smaller pan and discard the vegetables and bouquet garni. Over medium heat, simmer until the sauce is reduced by two-thirds and rich in colour. Pour the sauce over the meat. Serve with potato puree and green sauce.