Beef Cheeks with Pearl Barley Risotto

This dish of Beef Cheeks with Pearl Barley Risotto is one that James cooked for Jay Rayner. Beef cheeks are amazing cuts of meat, here they are braised and served with a delicious risotto and finished with onion ash, parsley oil, salsify cooked in red wine, beer jelly, roscoffs cooked in beer then sliced and roasted and veal jus. A really special meal!

Ingredients

2kg beef cheeks
2 tbsp plain flour
25g butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 leek, sliced
1 carrot, chopped
250ml beer
500ml beef stock
2 sprigs thyme, 2 bay leafs few sprigs rosemary

Risotto

300g pearl barley, cooked and drained
Knob of butter
50g mascarpone
100ml double cream
50g grated parmesan
50g parsley puree
15g garlic puree

To serve

Onion ash
Parsley oil
Salsify cooked in red wine
Beer jelly
Roscoffs cooked in beer then sliced and roasted
Veal jus

Method

Print Recipe

Toss the beef with the flour, salt and black pepper.

Heat a large sauté pan until hot. Splash in the olive oil and butter, add the beef and fry until browned on each side. Pop into a large casserole pan.

Add the beer and beef stock to the fry pan and bring to a simmer. Pour over the meat and add the rest of the ingredients.

Add the herbs and veg then cover and cook on a low heat for 6 hours until tender and just thickened. Drain off the cooking liquid and reduce to a ¼.

To make the risotto, heat all the ingredients together until bubbling. Season.

To serve, spoon the barley risotto onto plates, top with a beef cheek and spoon over the sauce. Open up the onions into petals, fill with beer jelly. Drizzle over parsley oil, sprinkle over onion ash.