Veal cheeks - tender as butter

Braised Veal Cheeks with root vegetables and Spaetzle

Veal cheeks - tender as butter

December 17th, 2017 | main dishes

This dish is my absolute favourite for a festive multi-course meal. It is a bit time-consuming, but you can prepare it already days before your guests arrive and freeze it. As a side dish dumplings or Spätzle and a salad of lamb’s lettuce with roasted bacon and walnuts are a perfect match. The effort is rewarded by a super tender meat and incredible aromas!

When preparing in advance, I recommend to freeze only the cheeks in the sauce, and to prepare the vegetables with almonds freshly. Vegetables can also be cut in advance and stored in the fridge. Then you have only to fry the vegetables right before serving the meal. Don’t forget to defrost the veal cheeks 😉 – best way is to defrost overnight in the fridge. Don’t boil the meat in the sauce, just warm it gently.

Braised veal cheeks tender as butter

(Serves 8 persons – 2 hours braise time + preparing time)

1 bunch of soup vegetables [carrot, celery, leek, parsley root]

2 onions

dice coarsely

8 veal cheeks (each appr. 120 g)

remove skins and tendons

salt, pepper

season

4 TS oil

sear cheeks in hot oil, take them out, roast the vegetables in the frying fat

10 g dried porcini mushrooms

40 g tomato paste

add and stir

500 ml dry red wine

pour in half of the wine, boil down in 10 minutes, add the rest of the wine, boil down again until slightly thick

1 EL brown sugar

1 garlic clove, smashed

3 ts herbs of Provence

8 juniper berries

2 cardamom pods

15 black peppercorns

add all spices

1 L beef stock (best freshly cooked)

fill up with stock, replace the cheeks, braise at 180° C for two hours, remove the meet, keep warm, pass the sauce through a sieve, salt lightly, keep the veal cheeks warm in the sauce

1 large carrot

1 onion

80 g celeriac

2 celery stalks

dice finely

2 TS almond slivers

3 TS neutral oil (such as rape oil)

roast vegetables and almonds for about 5 minutes

salt, pepper, brown sugar

season

1 bunch flat leave parsley, chopped

serve veal cheeks on top of the vegetables, garnish with parsley

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January 17th, 2018 | side dishes

Pasta a la Mamma

Home-made pasta, there is nothing better. Soft wheat semolina is the magic word. I was in a small shop for Italian food. At checkout the older grumbled something grouchy, (which must be resulting from living in Northern Germany…) owner: “Pasta? You don’t figure it out anyway.” On the question of whether he was this opinion because I’m not Italian, he replied unmoved: “My wife tried for 40 years, so you will not get out even there.” Allora! Per favore!