Beef cheeks

On the weekends, when you have just finished breakfast (late breakfast, of course), and its almost lunch time, its time to put the pot in the oven for dinner. If it’s raining out, or the snow crunches under our feet, this is what we prepare at home – something that fills the house with special smells, warmth, and the feeling that all is OK. It’s a family day spent together. An ideal food for guests as well, because it cooks itself. And the combination of celery, dried fruit, and nuts makes it perfect. Celery can be replaced with parsnips or carrots, which will taste great. And if you don’t have canned peas, you can use chickpeas that have been soaked for 12 hours.

Ingredients

600 g beef cheeks
20 ml mild olive oil or canola for cooking
180 g small onions, peeled, halved or quartered
400 g celeriac, peeled, cubed
1 can chickpeas with liquid
50 g raisins
50 g dried apricots
50 g walnuts, halves or roughly chopped
1 tbsp cumin seeds
10 sprigs thyme, leaves
sea salt to taste
2 tsp freshly-ground Tellicherrypepper
10 g 70% dark chocolate
serving:
shelled pistachios, roughly chopped

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 160°. In a cast iron pot (or other, if you don’t have cast iron), heat oil until very hot. Sear the meat on all sides. If you have a small pot, sear the meat in batches. Otherwise it will not sear, but rather steam, and you will not have the crisp outside that gives the dish its special flavour.

When the meat has been seared, mix the other ingredients into the meat, cover, and cook for 4 h. When done, remove from the stove and add the pistachios and serve. It’s ideal on its own, but you can serve is with couscous, bulgur, polenta, quinoa, or rice. Any leftovers can be frozen.

Recipe and pictures: Signe Meirane
Camera: Sony Alpha 7s