Tuesday night, we hosted 12 couples for a Valentine’s Day cooking class. The rich and sumptuous French Bistro-themed menu was filled with ‘foods of love,’ such as fresh shucked oysters, endive salad with figs and chocolate profiteroles. But the main event was Beef Cheeks Bourguignon (recipe follows.)

‘Beef cheeks’ are the facial cheek muscle of a cow. It’s a tough, lean cut of meat (perhaps the toughest cut on a cow – due to the amount of exercise those muscles get from all the chewing that cows do), usually used for braised dishes. The meat is dense, fine-grained and crisscrossed with gristly connective tissue, but when sufficiently cooked, the connective tissue melts into a creamy substance that adds a fatty richness and slightly sticky mouth feel to the dish.

We got our cheeks from Whitehouse Meats, and they were so beautifully cleaned that hardly any preparation, other than cubing, was needed. In fact, you don’t want to trim them too much (just remove any remaining silver skin – and there wasn’t much) so that the meat stays in nice big pieces while cooking. The cheeks were marinated overnight with red wine, onions and herbs, fried in some rendered bacon fat (from Upper Cuts Meats delicious Black Forest bacon), simmered first for about 2 hours with the strained marinade and cooked bacon, then an additional 30 minutes with sautéed mushrooms and pearl onions. It’s really quite a simple dish to make and yet so rustically-elegant and flavourful. We served our cheeks with boiled fingerling potatoes tossed with minced parsley and garlic (persillade.)

Our next menu class is Friday March 2nd and we will be shopping the market to make a Moroccan-themed meal. There are still some spots available. Until then, here’s a great recipe for winter entertaining or a cozy night in. Enjoy!

BEEF CHEEKS BOURGUIGNON
Makes 6 servings

INGREDIENTS:
1 Spanish onion, peeled and thinly sliced
Parsley and thyme sprigs
3 bay leaves
2 lbs beef cheeks, trimmed and cut into large pieces
1 bottle (750 mL) red wine
2 tbsp brandy
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp butter
5 oz bacon, cut in strips
24 small whole pearl onions, peeled
1 lb button mushrooms, quartered
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups beef stock
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 bouquet garni (celery stalk, parsley sprig, thyme sprig & bay leaf tied together)
Salt & pepper

Potatoes Persillade (recipe follows)

METHOD:
Place some of the onions in bottom of large glass bowl with a little parsley, thyme and bay leaf; top with some of the beef cheeks. Repeat layers. Whisk together wine, brandy and oil; pour over beef mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 and up to 24 hours.

Melt butter in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add bacon and fry until golden brown. Remove with slotted spoon and set aside. Add onions and fry until lightly golden on all sides; remove and set aside. Add mushrooms and fry until lightly golden on all sides; remove and set aside.

Remove pieces of beef from marinade; strain marinade and set aside. Dry pieces of beef on paper towel; add to pan in batches, frying over medium-high heat, until well browned on all sides. Sprinkle with flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Gradually add strained marinade, stock, garlic and bouquet garni. Add a pinch each of salt and pepper and cooked bacon; cover and simmer until fork tender, about 2 hours, stirring and skimming occasionally.

Skim off any fat from the surface of the cooking liquid. Add onions and mushrooms; cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until beef is really tender and sauce is dark and thick. Discard bouquet garni; adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

POTATOES PERSILLADE
2 lbs fingerling or new potatoes, washed (and peeled, if desired)
¼ cup minced fresh parsley
2 small garlic cloves, minced
Butter
Salt and pepper

Place potatoes in pot of cold, salted water and bring to boil. Reduce heat and cook, covered, until fork tender, 10-15 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, finely mince parsley and garlic together until well combined. Set aside.

Melt butter in large skillet; add potatoes and heat through. Remove from heat and add parsley mixture, salt and pepper, tossing until well coated. Serve immediately.

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