Chipotle beef cheeks
Beef cheek benefits from a low and slow simmer, giving it an irresistible pulled texture. The addition of chipotle chillies gives extra wow factor too!
Ingredients
For the chipotle beef cheeks
- 4–8 chipotles chillies, to taste
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1kg/2lb 4oz beef cheeks, trimmed of excess fat and cut into big chunks
- 2 onions, roughly chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 700g/1lb 9oz passata
- 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp fresh (or dried) Mexican oregano
- sea salt
For the red onion garnish
- 1 red onion, finely chopped
- red wine vinegar, to cover
To serve
- 8 fresh flour tortillas
- 100²µ/3½´Ç³ú soured cream
- 75²µ/2½´Ç³ú pickled habanero peppers
- 75²µ/2½´Ç³ú Cheddar, grated
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
Method
Preheat the oven to 150C/130C Fan/Gas 2.
To make the chipotle beef cheeks, put the chillies in a shallow bowl and pour over hot water to cover. Leave to soak for 20 minutes.
Heat the oil in a cast iron pan to a high heat and brown the meat all over – you will need to do this in batches. Remove the beef cheeks from the pan and set aside.ÌýReduce the heat to medium, add the onions and garlic and cook until the vegetables have softened – about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, remove the chillies from the water and slice off the stems and discard them. Slice in half and carefully remove and discard the seeds, avoiding touching your eyes. Finely chop the chilli.
Return the meat to the pan, add the passata, red wine vinegar, chopped chipotles, bay leaves, oregano and a big pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, then cover and cook for 4 hours, or until you can cut the meat with spoon.ÌýAllow to cool before using two forks to shred the meat.
To make the red onion garnish, put the red onions in a shallow bowl and pour over the red wine vinegar. Leave to soak for 30 minutes.
To serve, place 2 flour tortillas onto each of four serving plates and spread with the soured cream, top with the shredded beef cheek, and then the red onion, pickled habanero, cheese and fresh coriander. Roll and serve.
Recipe Tips
Ask the butcher to trim and cut the beef cheek as it can be quite tough to slice through.
