Slow Cooked Chilli and Fennel Beef Cheeks

Let me start by saying that this was not and intended recipe. I was given some gorgeous organic beef cheeks from a lovely local business – Australian Natural Food Company and the first thought that came to mind was Jess’s recipe for Smokey Balsamic Beef Cheeks and I honestly could not wait to make this.

True to form {as I can NOT follow a recipe}, what started out as Jess’s recipe quite quickly became my own compromised interpretation. Not because I thought I could make it better, simply because I had some other ingredients {including an amazing organic fennel bulb} that I wanted to use.

So totally inspired by Jess but made into my own creation here are my Chilli and Fennel Beef Cheeks.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

2 x small brown onions, roughly chopped

3 x garlic cloves , roughly chopped

1 x long red chilli, chopped {seeds are optional}

1 x large fennel bulb, cut into thin wedges

4 x sprigs of rosemary

750g organic beef cheeks

¾ tsp chilli powder

1 tsp Massel beef stock powder or 250mls of strong homemade beef stock

2 x bay leaves

½ cup good quality ‘thick’ balsamic

1 x cup red wine

1 x tin of whole tomatoes

Salt and pepper

EVOO

WHAT TO DO:

Pop your slow cooker on high and let it heat up. Add all of the ingredients to the slow cooker except the beef cheeks. Once you have given the ingredients a bit of a mix about, sit the beef cheeks on top, season with salt and pepper and pop the lid on. Check the dish every few hours, you can turn the cheeks about in the liquid if need be and top up the liquid with additional water if need be. Personally I didn’t need to do this, but if you were using a high volume of meat you may need to.

I highly recommend letting this cook for an absolute minimum of 12 hours, more if you can. I cooked mine for about 18 hours in the slow cooker and I dropped the setting down to low after about 8 hours.

Once the cheeks are literally falling apart or they look like they want to remove them for the slow cooker and put them on a plate. Use a fork to tear them apart a bit – kinda like pulled beef.

What you serve them with is up to you. I opted for some roast pumpkin, extra chilli and balsamic and a little goats fetta.

Enjoy x