Guinness and Prune Braised Beef Cheeks Recipe

Recipe | 17th January 2019

What You’ll Need (Serves 4) (1378 Kcal Per Serving)

• 4 Beef Cheeks
• 1 Leek
• 1 Large Onion
• 2 Carrots
• 1 Celery Stick
• 100g of Smoked Bacon Lardons
• 10 Pitted Prunes
• 1 Pint of Guinness
• 250ml of Prune Juice
• 250ml of Beef Stock
• 1Tsp of Tomato Paste
• 1 Bay Leaf
• 2 Cloves of Garlic
• 10g of Flat Parsley, Finely Chopped
• 40ml of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Creating the Dish

Get your butcher to trim the beef cheek clean.

Peel and dice the onion, carrots, celery and leek into a mirepoix.

Brown the beef cheeks in an ovenproof cast iron dish with a little oil.

Remove the cheeks from the dish and gently sweat the vegetable mirepoix with a little more oil.

Deglaze with Guinness.

Add in the prune juice, tomato paste, stock, thyme, garlic and bay leaf.

Immerse the beef cheeks back in the dish and bring to a simmer.

Cook in a 150°C preheated oven for 2.5 to 3 hours.

To check if fully cooked, push a skewer into the middle of the cheek; it should give very easily while feeling firm but not rubbery.

Once cooked, remove the cheeks from the liquid, leaving the vegetables in.

Remove the thyme and bay leaf, blitz the vegetables in the sauce using a hand blender and then pass through a sieve (it will thicken naturally with the sauce)

Place the cheeks back into the sauce.

Pan-fry the lardons in a large pan and add them into the sauce

Cut the pitted prunes in half and add to the sauce.

Season to taste.

Serve with creamy mash potato and sprinkle with freshly chopped flat parsley.