Life All Travel Destinations Entertaining Food All Chefs Recipes Restaurants Wine Matching Wine All Wine 101 Wine News Wine Regions Wine Varietals Home > Selector Magazine > Food > Beef cheeks, parsnip purée & watercress Food Beef cheeks, parsnip purée & watercress Preparation time Cooking time Serves 4 INGREDIENTS 1800g (4-8) beef cheeks 4 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp fennel seeds 200g celery, chopped 200g carrots, peeled & chopped 1 large brown onion, chopped ½ cup red wine 4 cups beef stock 2 tbsp warm honey 8 juniper berries 1 bay leaf Freshly ground black pepper For the Parsnips 200g cooked parsnips, puréed 180g cooked Pontiac potatoes, puréed 100g unsalted butter ½ cup cream, lightly whipped 1 tsp salt METHOD Preheat oven to 180°C or 160°C fan forced Trim fat from beef cheeks – seal in half the oil and keep warm – de-glaze the pan with a little beef stock and keep to one side. Heat the remaining oil in a large casserole dish and add the celery, carrots and onion and lightly brown. Sit the cheeks on top of the vegetables – add the de-glazing juices, red wine, stock, honey, juniper berries and bay leaf. Cover and cook for 1½ hours, then cool for at least ½ hour. Put the parsnip and potato into a saucepan and whip in the butter over medium heat; remove from heat and fold in the cream and salt. Mix with a blender until smooth. To serve, lift the cheeks from the liquid. Spoon the purée into the centre of a plate, top with the beef cheeks and freshly ground pepper. Ladle cooking juices around the purée base and serve with a bowl of watercress leaves. Food Preparation time Cooking time Serves 4 SHARE You might also like Food Oven-baked beef brisket with celeriac purée Food Fillet of beef - Burgundy style Food Sous vide beef, grain salad and pickled vegetables