Beef Cheek Ragout

stewing beef, onion and peppers

feeds a hungry family of 4


This recipe is perfectly suited to long slow cooking or a blast in the pressure cooker. I get my beef cheeks from my butcher as they’re not the kind of ingredient you tend to find in a supermarket. There’s a lot to be said for the knowledge that your local craft butcher has about cheaper cuts of meat and the best way to cook them. You don’t get that kind of advice from packets on a fridge shelf.


Double up or treble up your ingredients for an easy batch cook.


Ingredients

1 trimmed beef cheek
1 chopped large onion
2 chopped peppers
2 chopped sticks of celery
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
4-5 cloves of crushed garlic (more or less if you prefer)
1 teaspoon each of salt, white pepper, paprika, sugar, and dried oregano
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar


Method

Combine all the ingredients in the slow cooker pot and stir well. Cook on high for 8 hours or until the beef cheek is fall-apart tender. If cooking in a pressure cooker this dish will take about 3 hours.


To serve, break up the meat with a spoon and stir in some freshly cooked pasta. Garnish with chopped basil.


To make this meal stretch further add a drained can of chickpeas at the start.