The key to making this dish is patience. Make sure to source your ingredients well. Cooking is the easy part if you enjoy and follow the steps.
Have fun cooking this dish as it takes time to prepare, so when it comes to plating for your friends and family, get them involved.
Beef Cheek Braise
ingredients
1kg Beef cheek, source from Muscat livestock
200g Carrot, rough chopped
200g Leek, rough chopped
50g Garlic, smashed
1 bunch of thyme, crushed
2 pieces of star anise, leave whole
300ml Olive oil, for browning meat and veg
Method
1. In a hot pan with little olive oil, place the beef cheek until golden all round, take off the heat and reserve the liquor.
2. In the same pan, colour the vegetables using the liquor from the beef cheek until golden.
3. Place all ingredients in a pressure cooker adding water to cover all ingredients.
4. Put on lowest gas heat or low-level electric stove & cook for 4-5 hours until tender.
5. Allow the meat to cool in the liquor for 1 hour to help keep moist and full of flavour.
LEMON FILLING
Chickpea Puree:
Ingredients
500g Chickpeas, soak in water
for 24 hours
50g Garlic, slow-roasted
100g butter, diced
100g Shallot onion, diced
10g Paprika
METHOD
1. Bring the chickpeas to a boil in a pan with fresh water and a pinch of salt, simmer for 20 minutes until tender.
2. In a frying pan, medium heat, add the drained chickpeas along with rest of ingredients, cook and stir for around 8 minutes.
3. Place all ingredients into a blender and blend slowly adding some water to make it smooth.
4. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve, season to taste and store ready to use.
Crispy beef bacon:
Ingredients
300g Beef Bacon, sourced from Livestock
100g butter, diced
Half bunch of Thyme, smashed
A pinch of black pepper, crushed
100ml Olive oil
METHOD
1. Cut the bacon into match stick size pieces & place in a baking tray.
2. Place all the ingredients with the bacon and mix well. Place in oven at 180 degrees until crispy.
3. Drain remaining juices and store bacon in a dry area ready to use.
Blueberry Sauce
Ingredients
500g Fresh Blueberries, reserve half for garnish
All Beef cheek stock, from cooked beef cheeks
100g Butter, diced
METHOD
1. Using the stock from the beef cheeks place on high heat and reduce by half.
2. Place half your blueberries in the blender & blend slowly adding the stock and finish by dropping the butter in and blend for final 20 seconds.
Chef Danny Wilkinson is currently the Executive Chef of Alila al Jabal Al Akhdhar where one of the most recent highlights of his career is preparing the food of visiting former US President George Bush and his wife Laura.
Born in Leicester, England, he has worked in gastro pubs and casual restaurants before moving his way up to 5-star hotels and Michelin star restaurants and working with Michelin trained chefs along the way. He was 16 when he decided to join a catering college as a jump-off point to becoming a chef. He trained with Adam Wesley who also got his training from two Michelin star chef Simon Rogan in a fine dining restaurant at the early part of his career. He would later work under Chef Alain Roux and Chef Michelle Roux, a three Michelin star chef until his eventual move to Dubai and then just recently, to Oman. Chef Danny’s goal is to always deliver the best of his ingenuity in making new innovated trends of menus and modern kitchen techniques and various cuisines.
When he is not in the kitchen, he is also known as a talented sports enthusiast having played basketball during his university days. He also plays snooker in the premier league along with world pros, golf with a plus 8 handicap, a sergeant in the army cadet forces & captain for 4 years in the England 7.62 sniper rifle team — target shooting with the best finish of coming 3rd overall out of 6,000 international shooters.
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