Slow Cooked Beef Cheek with Seasonal Vegetables and Red Wine from Executive Chef Adam Smith of Michelin-starred Restaurant Coworth Park

Serves

6

Prep Time

24hrs

Cooking Time

6 hours

Ingredients

• 3 large beef cheeks
• 1 carrot
• 1 onion
• 1 head of garlic, cut in half
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 2 bottles of red wine
• 250ml ruby port
• 4ltr beef stock (reduced to 2ltr)
• 500g mash potato
• 200g salted butter
• 1 bunch of parsley
• 30 morels (dried are fine)

Adam’s tip: spring vegetables can be your own preference. Some suggestions are:

• baby carrots,
• broad beans
• garden peas
• spring onions
• baby leeks

Method

• Remove any fat or sinew from the outside of the cheeks.
• Peel and wash the carrot and onion, and cut in chunks for your mirepoix.
• Place your mirepoix with the cheeks, thyme and garlic bulb into a casserole dish, and cover with the red wine and port.
• Leave this in the fridge for 24hrs turning the cheeks over half way through.
• Drain off the wine and port mixture, pass it through a fine sieve and reserve.
• Separate the liquid, vegetables and the cheeks. Pat the cheeks dry with a clean cloth or kitchen towel.
• Heat a clean casserole dish that has a fitting lid, season the cheeks with salt and pepper and seal until golden brown.
• Remove from the pan and then add the vegetables and herbs mixture to the casserole dish.
• Once golden, add the red wine and port reserved from the marinade back in, and reduce to a syrup.
• Add the reduced beef stock and bring up to the boil.
• Add the cheeks to the liquid, remove from the heat and cover with the lid.
• Place into the oven at 120°c for 6 hours.
• Once the cheeks are beautifully soft, remove them from the cooking liquid.
• Pass the liquid and reduce by 2/5.
• Whisk in the salted butter until glossy
• Cook your desired vegetables in boiling salted water.
• Place them into a pan of melted butter with the morels and season with the chopped
• parsley.
• To serve, place the mash potato into a bowl and the cheek on top.
• Mix the red wine sauce with the vegetables and chopped parsley, and spoon generously over the top.
• Enjoy!

The best thing about this recipe is that it works all year round so you can use whatever your preferred vegetable at the time of year. This version is for spring or early summer so I have gone with small baby vegetables, garden peas and broad beans, however it would work just as well with root vegetables in the winter.

Adam Smith