Beef Cheek Ragu

Slow cooked beef cheeks are a thing of beauty. A little time consuming to make but TOTALLY worth it. PS - My toddler demolishes this on the regular!10

Course Dinner

Cuisine Worldwide

Keyword Beef Cheek Ragu, Beef Cheeks, Ragu

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 3 20

Total Time 3 35

Servings people

Calories 262kcal

Author AnotherFoodBlogger

Equipment

Chopping board
Chef Knives
measuring/weighing utensils
frying pan for breadcrumbs
heavy bottom pan with lid
wooden spoon

Ingredients

Beef Ragu

1 kg beef cheeks
2 carrots diced
1 celery diced
1 red onion diced
6 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 red chili finely chopped
1 thumbsized piece ginger finely chopped
4 sprigs thyme
1 piece star anise
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp tomato paste
500 ml red wine
500 ml beef stock
440ml can diced tomatoes
salt
pepper

Parsley Oil

2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp chopped parsley
pinch salt

Fettucine or Pappardelle pasta

breadcrumbs

Instructions

Parsley Oil

Stir all ingredients together in a small bowl and serve immediately or store in fridge until ready.

Beef Ragu

Cut beef cheeks into smaller sized pieces. I had 2 x 500g beef cheeks that I cut into 3 equal sizes.
Oil and season beef cheeks. Sear in a hot pan until golden brown on every side – approx 5 minutes. Remove beef cheeks and leave on a clean plate.
Add vegetables to pan, turn down to a medium heat and cook until soft – approx 5 minutes. Add wine & stock and bring to a simmer.
Add tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs & spices and stir. Place beef cheeks in pot and if needed top with a little water until cheeks are submerged. Bring to a simmer.
Cover with a lid or aluminum foil and place in oven @ 180c for 3hrs.
Remove from oven and test cheeks with tongs to see if they are cooked. You are looking for the cheeks to be tender and to pull apart easily. If necessary place back in oven for 15-20 minutes.
Remove pan from oven, discard thyme sprigs, star anise and bay leaves.
Place pan on a low heat and reduce braising liquid by 1/3 – approx 15mins.
Toss in cooked pasta with a few tbsp of the pasta water and drizzle with parsley oil

Notes

Tips/Tricks

this may seem like a lot of work at first but as the beef cheeks slowly cook you can get the parsley oil and breadcrumbs made so don’t be afraid of the long cooking time
the dish will keep in the fridge for 4 days and will freeze well so don’t be alarmed by the recipe serving 8ppl. Feel free to cut the portions in half but once you taste this you will regret not making more
the parsley oil is a key component as the acidity and freshness of the herbs helps cut through the richness of the beef cheeks. This will keep for a couple days in the fridge
breadcrumbs will keep for about 1 month in cool, dry place. I always have some in the cupboard to sprinkle on other pasta dishes to add texture.

Nutrition