Slow-cooked ox cheeks with honey-glazed apples and swede
Ox cheeks (also known as beef cheeks) are cheap and packed with flavour, but they do need to cook low and slow for the best results.
Ingredients
For the ox cheeks
- 2 ox cheeks, trimmed and halved
- 3–4 tbsp plain flour, for dusting
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1 leek, chopped
- 250ml/9fl oz red wine
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 tbsp yeast extract (such as Marmite)
- 1 litre/1¾ pint beef stock
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ tsp black peppercorns
For the apples and swede
- 30g/1oz butter
- 1 swede, chopped into cubes and blanched
- 30g/1oz honey
- 2 large apples, peeled and cut into cubes
- salt and cracked black pepper
To serve
- 300g/10½oz cooked mashed potato, warmed
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 tbsp chives, chopped
Method
For the ox cheeks, preheat the oven to 170C/150C Fan/Gas 3½.
Dust the ox cheeks with flour. Heat a casserole or an ovenproof pan and add the oil. Once hot, brown the ox cheeks then remove and set aside. Put all vegetables, wine, tomato purée and marmite in the casserole and fry until softened. Return the ox cheeks and cover with stock. Add the thyme, bay leaves and peppercorns, cover with a lid and cook in the oven for 3 hours, or until the beef is tender.
Once the beef is cooked, remove the casserole from the oven and pass the cooking liquor through a fine sieve. Transfer to a clean pan and reduce until the volume of liquid has reduced to a rich sauce.
For the apples and swede, heat a large frying pan or a sauté pan and add half the butter. Once the butter is foaming, add the swede and honey and cook for 1 minute. Add the apples and the remaining butter and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the apples and swede are tender.
To serve, spoon the mash into a large piping bag and pipe swirls of the mash onto serving plates. Add a piece of beef to each plate. Spoon the apple and swede on top, scatter over chopped parsley and chives. Serve with the sauce.