Recipe: Beef cheeks

Braised beef cheeks with tomato on rice. Photo / Doug Sherring

Grant Allen finds some local meat treats

Beef cheeks are, literally, the facial cheek muscle of a cow. It is a lean cut of meat, and tough, so needs slow cooking to produce a tender result.

Serves 4

• 800g of beef cheek, cut into chunky pieces
• flour, well seasoned with salt and pepper
• 1 cup beef stock
• zest and juice of one orange
• half a red chilli (or 1 tsp chilli flakes)
• 400g can diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper
• Gremolata: orange and lemon zest, 1 clove of garlic, flat leaf parsley
• Preheat the oven to 160C

1. Dust the cheeks with the seasoned flour and brown the meat in batches in a hot pan. Remove and set aside in a baking dish.

2. Into the same fry pan add the beef stock, the orange zest and juice, the chili and tomatoes in juice. Mix together, add the bay leaf and season well with salt and cracked pepper .

3. Pour this liquid over the browned beef cheek pieces.

4. Cover the dish with tinfoil and bake for at least 2 and a half hours. Check that the meat is tender and if it is not re-cover and continue cooking.

5. If the juices are too runny, thicken with a little cornflour mixed in water to a thin paste. Check the seasoning.

6. For the gremolata finely chop the lemon and orange zest, garlic and flat-leaf parsley until it is mixed together.

7. To serve: spoon the beef cheeks over plain boiled rice and garnish with the gremolata.