Ingredients
- 1kg beef cheeks, halved across the grain
- sea salt flakes and freshly-ground black pepper
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 leek, diced
- 2 sticks celery, chopped
- 1 red capsicum, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1 tsp dried thyme leaves
- 1 tsp dried porcini mushroom powder
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 1L beef stock
- 200g pitted prunes, chopped
- 150g chestnuts, cooked, peeled and chopped
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 Tbsp plain flour
- 1 bunch parsley, very finely chopped
- damper, to serve
Instructions
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 3½ hours
Serves: 4-6
1 Season the beef cheeks generously with salt and pepper. Pour half the oil into a large heavy-based saucepan set over a high heat then sear the beef for 5 minutes, until well-browned. Set aside. Add the remaining oil, leek, celery, capsicum, garlic, thyme and porcini, then cook for 5 minutes, until just softened.
2 Pour in the wine, simmer briefly, then return the beef and add the stock and prunes. Cook on a low temperature with the lid ajar for 3 hours, until the beef is tender, then add the chestnuts and cook for 10 more minutes.
3 Mix the butter and flour, stir in, simmer briefly, the mix in the parsley. Serve with damper.