Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 large carrot, finely diced
- 2 beef cheeks, cut in half
- 6 sprigs thyme
- 2 sprigs rosemary, leaves removed from stalk
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 2 cups red wine
- 1 cup stock (beef, vege or chicken)
- Pasta to serve
- Parmesan, grated, to serve
- Oregano leave or parsley to serve
Method
Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan over a medium-high heat and fry the onion and garlic for 5 minutes or so. Add in the carrot and continue to cook until the onion is soft and translucent. Transfer this mixture to the slow cooker.
Return the frying pan to the heat and add an extra splash of oil. Brown the beef cheeks on all sides then place these on top of the onion mixture. Add in the herbs, tomato paste, tinned tomato, wine and stock. Put on the lid, set to low and cook for 10 hours, or until the beef cheeks are tender and will shred easily. We set ours cooking at lunchtime and as it wasn’t ready by bedtime, we continued to cook it until 8am that next morning. When set to low like this you have a bit of a window so can fit in the cooking around your schedule.
Once the meat is tender remove it from the gravy and shred. Pour the gravy into a saucepan, bring to the boil then cook for 25-30 minutes or until the gravy has thickened. Season well with sea salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper then puree using a stick blender until smooth. Return the meat to the gravy and cook for a further few minutes to heat.
Serve over pasta garnished with parmesan cheese and herbs.
