Beef cheeks in red wine | Recipe of the week by Lawrence Murphy

I love beef blade from the shoulder and beef cheeks have such a wonderful depth of flavour you should give them a try.

The pigs trotter in the recipe isn’t there just to use it up, it adds gelatine and therefore stickiness to the finished sauce.

I’ve served this beef dish with braised red cabbage but you could easily add mashed potato for an old fashioned feel.

Ingredients, serves 4

2 beef cheeks trimmed of fat;2 onions cut into quarters;

2 carrots chopped into 2cm pieces;Half pig’s trotter;

500ml red wine500ml beef stock;

10 white peppercorns2 cloves garlic, sliced; 1 bay leafSmall bunch thyme.

Method1. Heat a little olive oil in a deep casserole dish and add the onion and carrot.2. Cook until golden brown and add the red wine and stock.3. Bring to a simmer and add the trotter, peppercorns, garlic and herbs.4. Bring back to a simmer and lower in the beef cheeks.5. Cover with a lid and put into a pre-heated oven 150c/gas 3 for 3-4 hours depending on the size of the cheeks.6. When a skewer goes through the meat easily they are cooked.7. Carefully lift out the cheeks and keep warm in the oven. Strain the liquid through a sieve into a saucepan.8. Reduce the liquid until it becomes thicker and then whisk in a knob of butter. Taste and season if necessary and pour over the beef to serve.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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