Chipotle beef cheeks
HB-13140 · Hand-built original · Mexican
Beef cheeks braised low and slow with chipotle until they pull apart, rolled in warm tortillas with pickled red onion and soured cream. Smoky, rich and gently fiery.
Main ingredient: beef
Pairs well with: mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, red wine sauce, yorkshire pudding, green beans
Ingredients
- 4–8 chipotle chillies, to taste
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 lb 4 oz beef cheeks, trimmed of excess fat and cut into big chunks
- 2 onions, roughly chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 lb 9 oz passata
- 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp fresh (or dried) Mexican oregano
- sea salt, according to taste
- 1 red onion, finely chopped
- red wine vinegar, to cover
- 8 fresh flour tortillas
- 3½ oz soured cream
- 2½ oz pickled habanero peppers
- 2½ oz Cheddar, grated
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
Method
- Soak the chipotle chillies in hot water for 20 minutes until they soften and plump up.
- Heat the olive oil in a heavy casserole over high heat and brown the beef cheek chunks in batches until deeply coloured on every side, then lift them out.
- Lower the heat to medium, tip the chopped onions and garlic into the beef juices and cook for about 10 minutes until soft.
- Drain the chillies, remove their stems and seeds, and chop the flesh finely, taking care not to touch your eyes.
- Return the beef to the casserole with the passata, 4 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, chopped chipotles, bay leaves, oregano and a generous pinch of sea salt, then bring the sauce to a boil.
- Cover the casserole and cook in an oven heated to 300°F for 4 hours, by which point the meat should yield to a spoon.
- Soak the finely chopped red onion in enough red wine vinegar to cover it for 30 minutes while the beef rests a little.
- Shred the cooled beef with two forks, load it onto the tortillas spread with soured cream, and finish each roll with drained red onion, pickled habanero, grated Cheddar and coriander.
Prep: 30 min · Cook: 2 h
Nutrition (per serving, where published)
Estimated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient data