Beef cheeks with creamy goat cheese polenta

I love winter food! I'm always happy with a meal of cosy, slow-cooked dishes paired with great wine.

This month I wrote a collection of recipes for a winter dinner party for my friends Nautilus Estate Wines. I love writing for them!

The first recipe I’m sharing uses beef cheeks. Have you cooked with beef cheeks before? An incredibly tasty, inexpensive and easy to cook cut of meat; it’s very rich so you don’t need huge portions. They become incredibly tender and flavoursome when slowed cooked. It’s a great opportunity to create a wonderful flavour over that long cooking time.

This warming and delicious winter dish is great for dinner parties as the meat can be made in advance. This recipe pairs the rich meat with a punchy goat cheese polenta and charred broccolini. Feel free to play around with different sides though. Roasted vegetables, creamy potato mash or cauliflower puree would also all work brilliantly.

Keep warm! Kelly xo

Beef cheeks with creamy goat cheese polenta and charred broccolini

Serves 4

6 shallots – peel and diced

4 cloves garlic – finely diced

1 medium carrot – peeled and diced

1 stalk celery – peeled and finely diced

3 cups beef stock

1 cup red wine

Zest of 1 orange

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves.

800 grams beef cheeks (approx. 2 pieces)

Olive oil for sautéing 

Polenta

4 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup instant polenta

50 gram butter

½ cup finely grated parmesan cheese

50 grams goat cheese

Charred Broccolini

400 grams broccolini

Olive oil for sautéing

Sea salt

Meat Method

Preheat oven to 140 degrees Celsius.

Heat a generous glug of olive oil over a medium heat. Add the shallots, garlic, carrot and celery. Cook gently for 5-7 minutes until the shallots are translucent. Add to your casserole dish (one with a lid is ideal).

Meanwhile, heat the stock, wine and orange zest until boiling. Remove from the heat and add the thyme leaves.

Season the pieces of meat well. Increase the temperature of the pan to medium high. Add more oil if necessary and brown on the meat on all sides.

Add the meat and the stock to your casserole dish. If you do not have a tight fitting lid, use tinfoil to over well.

Cook for 4-4.5 hours until meltingly tender.

Remove the pieces of meat gently. If your casserole dish can be used over direct heat, place the liquid over a high heat and simmer until the liquid has thickened (roughly 10 minutes).  You can also pour the liquid into a large saucepan and reduce this way. Strain the sauce if you’d prefer to have no small vegetable pieces in it. Taste the thickened liquid and season to taste.

Combine meat and the liquid again.

Polenta Method

Bring the water and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the polenta slowly, whisking constantly until thoroughly mixed and smooth. Reduce the heat and cook for 3 minutes. Add the butter, parmesan and goat cheese. Stir well and season to taste.

Broccolini Method

Trim any leaves on the stem. Steam for a minute or two until slightly softened. Drain well on a tea towel. Heat a generous glug of olive oil over a medium high heat. Add the broccolini and cook for a couple of minutes until each stem is browned on a few points. Season well with sea salt and serve immediately.