Braised Beef Cheeks in red wine with cocoa[1] (recipe[2]).  I’m game to cook anything savoury with a bit of cocoa in it.  Just adds that extra little bit of warmth to a dish. This meal was an excellent example of a winter warmer.  The beef cheeks were beautifully melty after three hours in the oven, being left overnight to enrich the flavours and then re-ovened for another hour the following evening.  I really did have to hold back from digging right in the night before, though. It went brilliantly with the roasted brussels sprouts and the dutch potato mash (made in the Thermomix[3]).  I know that waxy potatoes give mash a more gluey texture, but it turned out almost exactly like the mash from Red Cabbage, which I love to bits. And all the produce came from Clontarf Farmers’ Market.  Really am becoming quite fond of the place.  Lovely fresh produce and most of it is extremely well priced.  Some considerably cheaper than your average supermarket. [1] Brown things really are a challenge to photograph without making it look like poop.  The vegetable bits in the sauce probably did not help. [2] I found the exact same recipe copied word for word with no source listed on at least five other sites.  I have no idea whose it actually is or where it originally came from. [3] The Thermomix recipe for mash recommends floury potatoes and mashing for 20-30 seconds.  If you do use waxy potatoes, drop the mashing time to about 15-20.  It’ll be just as smooth without making it too springy.

Braised Beef Cheeks in red wine with cocoa[1] (recipe[2]).  I’m game to cook anything savoury with a bit of cocoa in it.  Just adds that extra little bit of warmth to a dish.

This meal was an excellent example of a winter warmer.  The beef cheeks were beautifully melty after three hours in the oven, being left overnight to enrich the flavours and then re-ovened for another hour the following evening.  I really did have to hold back from digging right in the night before, though.

It went brilliantly with the roasted brussels sprouts and the dutch potato mash (made in the Thermomix[3]).  I know that waxy potatoes give mash a more gluey texture, but it turned out almost exactly like the mash from Red Cabbage, which I love to bits.

And all the produce came from Clontarf Farmers’ Market.  Really am becoming quite fond of the place.  Lovely fresh produce and most of it is extremely well priced.  Some considerably cheaper than your average supermarket.

[1] Brown things really are a challenge to photograph without making it look like poop.  The vegetable bits in the sauce probably did not help.

[2] I found the exact same recipe copied word for word with no source listed on at least five other sites.  I have no idea whose it actually is or where it originally came from.

[3] The Thermomix recipe for mash recommends floury potatoes and mashing for 20-30 seconds.  If you do use waxy potatoes, drop the mashing time to about 15-20.  It’ll be just as smooth without making it too springy.