What a well-timed long weekend, I really needed that. Life has been, as always, relentlessly busy, so this weekend PD came and stayed at mine and we just puddled around cooking, exercising, doing crosswords and watching movies by the fire. On Saturday night he made two fantastic recipes – individual creamy fish pies, then an apple and cheddar pie for dessert, which was a bloody revelation. So very good, served with a little sweetened whipped cream. My turn was yesterday so I threw the beef cheeks together in the morning so that in the evening there wasn’t much more to do. The flavour is intense, even with the one chilli that I used. Not hot so much, as deeply aromatic from all of those blended flavours, and it works beautifully with the noodle action. We absolutely wolfed it down…appropriately watching Wolf Hall, or as I call it, Men in Ugly Hats.
Meanwhile darling Pog has been announced as Design Director at the Melbourne design agency where he works, AFOM. I’m so proud of him, someone who thinks so deeply about his work, then refines and refines until his clients are left with just the most outstanding, intelligent results. In London Hoob has been doing battle, trying to get his WIFI connected while buying and putting together furniture at a rate of knots to get his sunny new home all set up. His job at Tik Tok is massive and he has dived into it headfirst, and again, I couldn’t be prouder. Next week we continue work on issue 122 of Dish, our first with increased distribution into Australia. I’m trying not to get too excited at the prospect – but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t fully tingling at the opportunity.
Anyhoo – for now, it is time to light the fire and settle in. I hope you enjoy the recipe, and if you’re looking for more uses for the gochujang once you’ve bought it (available at most supermarkets), it is amazing with fried chicken or fried eggs and gives an extra kick to loads of Asian dishes. It’s also epic in a cheese toastie!
1.5k beef cheeks, trimmed and cut into 4cm pieces
4 tbs oil
1 onion, chopped
sea salt
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1-2 red chillies, chopped
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
4 cups beef stock
2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp (Helen) mirin (in-joke…)
1/2 tsp five spice
1 tbsp gochujang (sweet and spicy Korean red chilli paste)
1 tsp black bean paste (if you have it)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 star anise
2 tbsp brown sugar
200g mushrooms, halved or quartered if large (I used Swiss browns)
1 tsp sesame oil
To serve:
500g Singapore noodles, cooked
2-3 chopped spring onions
coriander leaves
warm flat breads – I used (weirdly) naan
Trimming the beef cheeks is such a faff, I find popping them in the freezer for half an hour really helps to make the extra fat/sinew removal easier. Heat 2tbsp the oil in a large heavy based pot and sear the beef cheeks in batches then set aside. Add another tbsp of oil and add the onion and a wee bit of sea salt and cook over a medium heat for 8 minutes. Add the garlic, chilli and ginger and cook together for 2 minutes. Add the stock, zest, soy, mirin, spices and gochujang, brown sugar and black bean paste and bring to a boil. Return the beef to the pot, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 4 hours until super-tender. I leave the lid just a tiny bit off to reduce the sauce a little as it cooks. Stir occasionally while cooking. (You can either cool and keep it until later/overnight or continue to serving now). Heat the last tbsp olive oil in a frying pan with the sesame oil. Cook the mushrooms over a medium high heat for 7-8 minutes until plump and cooked through. Stir through the beef with the noodles and serve with a sprinkling of coriander and spring onions, and flat breads on the side.
Serves 4
