This is a great recipe as we start to come into the colder months. The soft rich beef cheeks with a deep rich sauce mixed through warm pasta, you can’t get better than that. This is a simple recipe that you can make look impressive. You can put it on in a slow cooker in the morning before work and it will be ready for you at the end of the day, so great for busy people and families. It’s definitely a hit with my family and I’m sure it will be with yours too. So who’s cooking dinner?
Brown beef cheeks all over this will help add more flavour.
Chop all vegetables roughly. Don’t spend heaps of time on this step as they are only to add flavour and get discarded once the beef cheeks are cooked.
Sweat down the vegetables in the same pot as the beef until they start to brown and caramelise.
Add red wine and deglaze pot and scrape the bottom to remove all the caramelised bits as these will add even more flavour.
Add all ingredients into the pot/slow cooker and cook until beef cheeks are soft and fall apart.
Beef Cheek Ragu with Pappardelle
serves 4
2 Beef cheeks
2 Stalks celery, roughly chopped
2 Carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 Onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 Flat mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 Capsicum, roughly chopped
4 Garlic cloves, peeled
4 Thyme sprigs
1 Tin chopped tomatoes
1 ½ cups Red wine
2 cups Beef stock
Salt and pepper
Flour, for dusting
50gms Butter
Parmesan cheese, for serving
1 packet dried Pappardelle pasta (250gms)
Dust beef cheeks with flour. Heat a casserole dish with a dash of oil over high heat. Add the beef cheeks and brown all over. Or alternativeley do this in a slow cooker as mine will heat up enough to bown the meat and vegetables.
Remove beef cheeks from the pot and set aside on a plate.
Add butter to the pot and turn down the heat to medium. Add all the vegetables, garlic and thyme and cook until they start to brown.
Pour in red wine and scrape the bottom of the pot to release all the caramelised bits and deglaze the pan, then reduce by half.
Add the whole tin of tomatoes and mix to combine.
Add the beef cheeks back into the pot and cover with beef stock.
Cook in 160c oven for 3 1/2 hours with lid on or as I do on a slow cooker on low for 8 hours or until beef cheeks are soft and fall apart.
Drain some liquid out of the pot, about 2 cups into a medium saucepan and place over a medium heat.
Simmer until the stock has reduced by half and thickens. Don’t worry if it doesn’t thicken, it sometimes doesn’t happen for me, just add 1 tbsp arrowroot to a ramekin with a dash of water and mix to form a slurry. Whisk into the sauce and cook until thickened. Meanwhile add the dried pappardelle to a large pot of salted boiling water and cook for 8-9 minutes or until al dente (firm to the bite).
Remove the beef cheeks from the pot and shred well. Strain the pasta and portion into bowls.
Evenly place the shredded meat on top and pour a generous amount of thickened sauce into each bowl.
Finely grate a small amount of parmesan over each bowl and season with freshly cracked pepper and a sprinkle of salt. For a extra touch I garnished mine with fresh pea shoots.
Comments