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Beef & Potato Stew

When making a stew, I always favour ox cheek, oxtail or featherblade because they cook into juicy, falling-apart meat and a mouth-sticking braise, which is what makes them so perfect for dishes like this one.

When cooking simple dishes like this, it’s important to remember that the quality of ingredients is key. Always use fresh stock, rather than a cube – the flavour and consistency of the stew just won’t be the same without. If you don’t have time to make your own, you can find fresh stock in the chiller cabinet of most supermarkets – I think Truefoods or Waitrose stocks are the best and I have a freezer full of them.

I always serve this stew with mash (when I said this on social media I was told I was insane, although you will be hard pushed to convince me that double potato is ever a bad thing), but you can also serve with buttered crusty white bread if you prefer!

SERVES 4

Preparation time 25 minutes

Cooking time 3 hours 10 minutes

olive or rapeseed oil or ghee, for frying

2 ox cheeks (roughly 900g), each cut into 6 pieces

10 small onions or shallots, peeled but left whole

1 bay leaf

2 sprigs of rosemary

few sprigs of thyme

2 carrots, halved lengthways and cut into 6cm pieces

1 tbsp plain flour

500ml fresh beef stock

1 leek, cut into 4 long sections

400g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

handful of parsley, chopped

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

First, get a frying pan really hot and put in 1 tablespoon of your chosen fat. Season the ox cheek pieces well with salt and pepper and brown them in batches. Remove them from the pan once nicely caramelised and set aside.

In a heavy-based casserole, heat another couple of tablespoons of fat and throw in the onions and the bay leaf, rosemary and thyme. Allow to cook for 5 minutes over a higher heat than normal, until the onions start to soften and caramelise a little at the edges. Next add the carrots and cook for a couple more minutes, stirring regularly.

Stir in the flour and allow to cook for a couple of minutes. Add the stock and the leeks, followed by the ox cheeks and their residual juices. If necessary top up the casserole with water so that everything is just covered with liquid. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cover with a lid.

Allow the stew to cook gently for 2 hours 30 minutes. After this time, add the potatoes to the stew, stir gently, replace the lid and cook for a further 40 minutes until the potatoes are cooked through and the meat gives way when pushed. Check the seasoning and stir in the parsley. Turn off the heat and leave the stew to rest with the lid on for 10 minutes before serving with crusty bread and butter – or double up your potatoes and serve with creamy mash.