Beef Cheeks With Sweet Potato Puree

Total Time: 3 hrs 20 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 kg beef cheek
• 1 onion (large chopped)
• 2 celery ribs (chopped)
• 1 carrot (medium peeled chopped)
• 1 leek (thinly sliced)
• 1 liter beef stock (4 cups)
• 2 (400 g) diced tomatoes (canned)
• 125 ml red wine (1/2 cup)
• 1/2 lemon (zest off)
• salt (to season)
• pepper (to season)
• 6 bulbs shallots (eschallots specified)
• 400 g mushrooms
• 1 kg sweet potato (peeled cut into large chunks)
• 80 ml milk (hot)
• 30 g butter (chopped)
• cooking spray
• 2 zucchini (medium thinly sliced lengthways using a vegetable peeler)
• 3 bay leaves (fresh or dried)
• 1 sprig rosemary (fresh)
• 3 sprigs lemon thyme (fresh)
• 3 parsley sprigs (fresh)

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 180°c.
• 2 to make the bouquet garni, gather herbs in a small square of muslin and tie with kitchen string to secure.
• 3 heat half of the oil in a large, ovenproof casserole dish over a medium-high heat and cook the beef cheeks in 2 batches for 8 minutes each batch, until browned all over and set aside.
• 4 heat remaining oil in the dish over a medium heat and add onion, celery, carrot and leek and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until softened and lightly browned.
• 5 return beef cheeks to dish with the stock, tomato, wine, lemon zest and bouquet garni and season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil.
• 6 transfer dish to the oven and cook, covered for 2 hours.
• 7 stir in eschallots and mushrooms and cook, uncovered for a further 40 minutes or until sauce has thickened and beef is very tender.
• 8 remove from and reserve beef, eschallots and mushrooms; strain the sauce and discard vegetables and then return beef, eschallots and mushrooms to strained sauce.
• 9 meanwhile cook potato in a large saucepan of boiling water over a medium heat for 15 minutes or until tender, drain and pass through a potato rice and then stir in milk and butter and season with salt and pepper.
• 10 lightly spray a large frying pan with oil and heat over a medium heat and cook zucchini ribbons for 4 minutes or until just tender and season with salt and pepper.
• 11 tip 1 - for a shortcut use a pre-prepared bouquet garni made with dry herbs.
• 12 tip 2 - for a more intensely flavoured mash, try roasting instead of boiling the potatoes before mashing them.
• 13 tip 3 - if you prefer a chunky sauce, omit straining the sauce, in step 8, so that you retain all the vegetables.