For some reason I had a hankering for some really rich comfort food but wanted to do it as healthily as possible. I spotted ox cheeks on the meat counter so I thought I'd give it a go - and they were amazing. I used my trusty pressure cooker for this but you could also just bake in oven.
This recipe will make a large vat of food - we've had around 10 portions so far before its started to get low! That's not too heavy on the meat (deliberately so adjust your meat/veg balance to taste)
- 1kg Ox cheeks
- 1 bottle half decent red wine
- 2 leeks
- 3 red onions
- 6 big shallots
- 3 sticks celery
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 1 tin anchovies in oil
- Fresh thyme (handful)
- Dried mixed herbs (handful)
- Bay leaves (6)
- 500g button mushrooms
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Plain Flour
- Cherry tomatoes on the vine
- Rice
I cook all this in the pressure cooker as I'm lazy and don't want to do lots of washing up. Chop red onions and shallots and fry in plenty of olive oil until they start to caramelise.
Meanwhile chop the ox cheeks which are crazy tough - I used a combination of a cleaver and a bread knife. Dice into cubes then cover them in flour and add to onions to fry off. Add more oil if necessary.
Fry on a low heat as the flour will catch - keep scraping the bottom of the pan periodically so it stays relatively clear.
When happy the meat is browned, add a little water (1 cup) to stop it burning then chop and add the leeks. Add the button mushrooms. Add the diced sweet potato. Chop and add the celery. Chop and add the anchovies including the oil they are in. Add all the herbs (chop the thyme first) including a good handful of salt.
Add the bottle of wine then put the lid on the pressure cooker and bring up to maximum pressure.
Once at pressure, turn the heat down to minimum and let it cook for 1 hour.
If you don't have a pressure cooker I'd suggest trying this in a lidded casserole at about 200degrees Celsius for about 3 hours (but check it periodically as that's just a guess!)
I recommend serving with the best small on the vine tomatoes - take lid off the pressure cooker and snip the tomatoes into groups of 3 or 4. Add to the top of the pan and replace the lid. Let sit without heat for another hour.
After this point you should have meat so tender it dissolves in the mouth.
Serve with rice.
It's amazing - definitely going to do this again. Very very rich but full of veggies and even young children love it.
