Today’s is a recipe for Christmas Eve, where, traditionally, lighter dishes are often served. Ox cheek is the meat of the moment; much, much cheaper than steak and if braised slowly it’s a cut that’s both flavourful and fall-apart tender. This Italian-inspired dish is great as a starter (where it will serve six) but it also works well as a light main course that will serve four.
Prep time: 40 minutes/Cook time 130 minutes/Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
800g (1lb 2oz) beef cheeks
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, diced
2 carrots, chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp tomato purée
200ml (4/5 cup) red wine
150ml (3/5 cup) beef stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the fresh pasta:
200g (7oz) ’00’ flour (durum wheat is best), plus extra for dusting
2 eggs
semolina flour, for dusting
salt, to taste
For the sage butter:
60g (2¼oz) salted butter
16 small sage leaves
freshly-ground black pepper
freshly-grated Parmesan cheese, to serve
Method:
For the beef cheek filling, roll the beef in the flour and pat off any excess. Heat the oil in a large casserole over a medium heat, add the meat and cook until well browned all over. Remove the meat and set aside.
Pre-heat your oven to 150C (130C Fan/300F/Gas Mark 2). Add the onion, carrots and celery to the casserole and cook for around 8–10 minutes, until the onions are just soft. Stir in the garlic and tomato purée. Add the beer (or red wine) and stock and return the meat to the casserole. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover with the lid and place in the oven. Cook for around 4 hours until the cheeks are tender. (You could also cook them in a slow cooker for 8 hours or in a pressure cooker at high pressure for 1 hour.) Season to taste with salt and black pepper, then take off the heat and set aside to cool completely.
To prepare the pasta, place the flour in a mound on a large clean work surface. Form a well in the centre and add the eggs. Gradually draw the flour into the eggs with your hands to create a dough. The dough will become less sticky as it comes together. Form into a ball and knead for around 8 minutes until smooth, elastic and when you drag your thumb across the dough it doesn’t tear. Place in an air-tight box and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into two equal pieces and place one piece on a work surface dusted with semolina. Make sure the other dough piece is covered with a damp tea towel to prevent it from drying out. Roll the dough into a rectangle that is about 6mm (¼in) thick.
Dust the dough with flour and feed it through a pasta machine on the widest setting. Fold and feed through again. Repeat the process four or five times. Pass the dough through the pasta machine rollers, decreasing the setting until the pasta sheets are rolled in the final, narrowest setting. (You can make the ravioli slightly thicker and with more bite by stopping at the penultimate setting, and this will be slightly easier to fill without poking a hole in them.) Place the pasta sheets on a clean work surface, lightly dusted with semolina.
Lift the beef cheeks and some of the vegetables from the sauce with a slotted spoon and put into a bowl. Fork through the mixture to shred the beef into small pieces, using some of the cooled cooking liquid to moisten, until you have a mixture that holds together but doesn’t feel too dry. (The extra beef cheek mixture can be frozen for another pasta dish or used as part of a beef soup or stew.)
Place 1 heaped teaspoon of beef filling at intervals in a straight line along the length of one half of the dough strips. Space them about 4cm (1½in) apart and about 2cm (¾in) from the edge.
Lightly brush the pasta with water between each mound and down the long edge of the pasta. Fold the dough lengthways over the filling and then press gently over the filling to flatten slightly and seal. As you seal each square, work to eliminate any air from the ravioli, as this will cause them to burst in the boiling water during cooking.
Trim the edges with a pasta cutter wheel and cut into separate ravioli squares. Check that each ravioli is well sealed and set aside on a tray dusted with semolina. (At this point the ravioli can be covered and refrigerated for up to 4 hours, or frozen on the tray. Decant the frozen ravioli to a sealed box or bag to store for up to 3 months.)
To cook, fill a large saucepan with water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and bring to the boil.
Cook the ravioli in batches for 1–2 minutes, until the pasta is cooked and the filling has heated through properly. Drain thoroughly.
To make the sage butter, melt the butter in a small frying pan with sage leaves. Fry gently until the sage leaves start to sizzle and the butter starts turning golden brown. Add some black pepper. Turn the ravioli in the sage butter and serve with Parmesan.
