Beef Cheek, Beef Fillet, Snails, Parsnip Recipe

Beef cheek and fillet, Dorset snails and parsnip

Main
easy
6
5 hours 30 minutes

PT5H30M

This is a complex beef dish from Luke Holder, that includes beef cheek, beef fillet and snails. It does require a lot of attention, time and specialist equipment – it will, however, blow the socks off any dinner party guests you serve it to.

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Ingredients

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Beef cheek

1000g of ox cheek, trimmed
3 tbsp of oil
350ml of red wine
1 carrot, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 leek, diced
1 celery stick, diced
1 sprig of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
4 garlic cloves
1 tsp tomato purée
1/2 star anise
2.5l chicken stock

Beef fillet

500g of beef fillet
2 tbsp of oil

Snails

2 tbsp of oil
4 onions, diced
4 carrots, diced
6 celery sticks, diced
1 sprig of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
750ml of Madeira
2l chicken stock
6 ready purged snails
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp of parsley

Parsnip purée

600g of parsnip, peeled and diced
125ml of semi skimmed milk
250ml of double cream

Whole roast parsnips

6 parsnips
2 tbsp of olive oil
25g of butter

Wild garlic crust

1000g of wild garlic
300g of butter
180g of breadcrumbs

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Food processor or blender
Steamer
Vac pac maker

For the beef cheeks, heat the oven to 140ºC/Gas mark 1

Seal the beef cheeks in a hot pan with a little oil until browned. Remove the cheeks from pan. Deglaze the pan with the red wine, and boil until the liquid is reduced by half

1000g of ox cheek, trimmed
3 tbsp of oil
350ml of red wine
3 tbsp of oil

In a separate pan, sweat of all the diced vegetables, garlic, thyme and bay in a little oil

1 carrot, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 leek, diced
1 celery stick, diced
1 sprig of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
4 garlic cloves

Mix the vegetables with the reduced red wine, tomato purée, star anise and chicken stock

1 tsp tomato purée
1/2 star anise
2.5l chicken stock

Put in an ovenproof pan and add the beef cheeks

Cover with a lid then braise in the oven for 2 hours and 30 minutes. Remove and allow to cool at room temperature

For the parsnips, vac-pac the parsnips with the cream and milk. Whizz to a purée in a blender. Season then pass through a sieve and chill

600g of parsnip
125ml of semi skimmed milk
250ml of double cream

Steam at 100ºC for 25 minutes then blend in a blender for 6 minutes

For the snails, heat the oven to 140ºC/Gas mark 1

Heat the oil and sweat the vegetables and herbs until golden brown. Add the Madeira and reduce until syrupy

2 tbsp of oil
4 onions
4 carrots
6 celery sticks
1 sprig of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
750ml of Madeira

Transfer to an ovenproof dish, add the purged snails and braise for 3 hours 30 minutes - 4 hours 30 minutes until tender

6 ready purged snails

To finish, heat the butter until foaming. Add the garlic and parsley then add the drained snails and heat through

1 garlic clove
300g of butter
1 tbsp of parsley

For the wild garlic crust, blanch the wild garlic by dropping it into boiling seasoned water for 4 minutes. Drain, cool and chill

1000g of wild garlic

Put the wild garlic into a freezer container and freeze. When it starts to harden, transfer it to a food processor and whizzing, before mixing with butter and breadcrumbs

180g of breadcrumbs
300g of butter

Roll out the crust out between 2 sheets of parchment paper then freeze again. Cut, once frozen, into 4cm square pieces

For the beef, cut the 500g piece of fillet into 6 pieces, approximately 85g each. Season with salt

500g of beef fillet

Heat the oven to 200ºC/Gas mark 6. Sear the beef fillet in the oil quickly all over in a hot pan then transfer to the oven for 15-20 minutes for rare meat

2 tbsp of oil

Roast the parsnip in the moderately hot oil, add the butter and allow to foam

6 parsnips
2 tbsp of olive oil
25g of butter

Turn the heat down and baste the foaming butter over the parsnips continuously for 6-8 minutes until cooked all the way through

To plate, reheat the cheek through in the red wine gravy and place a piece of the wild garlic crust over the top before glazing under the grill

Reheat the parsnip purée and check for seasoning

Place a spoonful of parsnip purée to the left of the plate and the rested fillet on the opposing side. Cut the top end off the parsnips and stand one in the centre of the parsnip purée

Place the now glazed beef cheek on top of the fillet and dress the crust with the braised snail and snail shells

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Luke Holder

Luke Holder comes by his taste for ultra-authentic local cuisine honestly: he's spent large chunks of his career soaking up regional techniques in far-flung parts of the world.