Good Friday beef cheeks

It feels like an age since I last wrote here on Random Yummy. I think it’s been longer on Yummy Lummy. I even missed last week on What I think, eat, listen to, and watch each week (the diary blog).

It’s Good Friday and I’ve been working from home writing papers and answering questions and trying to add some value to my current work commitments.

Unlike the accepted wisdom, I don’t usually have fish on Good Friday, I have red meat, specifically, beef.

While I was working I had the beef cheeks in the slow cooker.

Recipe

Ingredients

• Beef cheeks
• White onion
• Carrot
• Celery
• Red wine
• Beef stock
• Whole black peppercorns
• Potatoes
• Butter
• Cream
• Peas
• Corn
• Capsicum

Instructions

• Unwrap the beef cheeks from the plastic packaging.
• Heat up a frying pan and sear the beef cheeks to get a good caramelisation on all the surfaces.
• After searing the beef cheeks, move the cheeks to a plate and add some chopped onion to the frying pan to sweat.
• While the onions are sweating, slice some carrot and celery and then add the carrot and celery to the sweating onions.
• Cook the onions, celery, and carrot until each has soften.
• Deglase the frying pan with some red wine and beef stock.
• Add the onions, carrot, and celery to the cooking vessel of the slow cooker.
• Pour in the red wine and beef stock.
• Add the seared beef cheeks to the slow cooker cooking vessel.
• Seal the lid of the slow cooker and cook for six (6) hours.
• When the six (6) hours of complete, remove the beef cheeks to a plate and then decant the cooking juices to a saucepan.
• Bring the cooking juices to simmer and puree with a stick blender.
• Reduce the sauce to a thick gravy.
• Add some cream and then butter to finish the gravy.
• Make potato mash by boiling potatoes and then mashing them with iodised salt and butter.
• Cook some frozen peas, corn, and capsicum in a frying pan until soft.
• Add the potato mash to a dinner plate and add the peas, corn, and capsicum next to the potato.
• Lay a beef cheek on the potato mash and pour over some of the gravy.
• Grind the whole black peppercorns in a mortar with a pestle and season the potato mash, beef cheeks, and vegetables.

Summary

The meal was delicious. I reckon it’s the best Good Friday meal I’ve eaten in a long time.

Breakfast and lunch

For breakfast I had a steamed egg and some wilted spinach with a coffee. I followed this is a stick of butter and a couple of toasted hot cross buns.

For lunch I went with a well toasted hot cross bun and smear of Vegemite.