Beef cheeks need nothing but time — after three hours in a broth of wine, root vegetables, and herbs, they fall apart at the touch of a fork. A simple, robust red is sufficient for braising; the good wine belongs in the glass on an evening like this, not in the pot.
The celeriac purée balances the intensity of the dish with a subtle sweetness. And because the dark berry fruit and spice that the Deux Parcelles brings to the table are exactly what developed in the pot over those three hours, the wine drinks as if it were part of the sauce.
For how many, and what to serve with it
Main course for four. One cheek per person; the celeriac purée is the side dish.
Pairs well with a small salad of lamb's lettuce or radicchio, which balances the intensity of the braised dish.
For six, use six cheeks and one and a half times the amount of purée; the braising time remains the same.
Ingredients
- 4 beef cheeks, approx. 250 g each, trimmed of sinew
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 onions, roughly diced
- 2 carrots, in thick slices
- 1 stalk celery, in pieces
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 500 ml robust, dry red wine for braising
- 400 ml rich beef stock
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 3 sprigs thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 wide strip of organic orange peel
- Salt and black pepper
- 700 g celeriac, diced
- 300 g floury potatoes, diced
- 150 ml milk
- 40 g butter
- freshly grated nutmeg
Method
- Pat the beef cheeks dry, season generously with salt and pepper, and sear in hot olive oil in a Dutch oven until dark brown on both sides, then remove.
- Sauté the onions, carrots, and celery in the same pot over medium heat for 8 minutes until the edges take on some color.
- Add the garlic and tomato paste and sauté for two minutes until the paste loses its raw acidity.
- Deglaze with one-third of the wine, scrape all the browned bits from the bottom, and let the liquid reduce almost completely.
- Pour in the remaining wine, reduce by one-third uncovered, and then add the stock.
- Return the cheeks to the pot, add the rosemary, thyme, bay leaf, and orange peel, and place the covered pot in the oven at 150 °C (top/bottom heat) for 3 hours.
- Boil the celeriac and potatoes in salted water until soft, drain, and let steam dry briefly.
- Warm the milk and butter, mash into the vegetables, and season the purée with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
- Carefully lift out the cheeks, strain the cooking liquid through a sieve, and reduce uncovered until it reaches a creamy consistency.
- Place the purée on preheated plates, top with the cheeks, and coat generously with the sauce.
