Oh my god, this was amazing! I had no idea this would turn out so well, but this was one of my top maybe three dishes I've ever made. I loved this, and licked my plate clean, then licked Jeanette's plate clean. Just awesome.

Last time I picked up a pork belly order from Wagshal's Northwest DC, I also grabbed a frozen, vacuum packed bag of veal cheeks, a bit over a pound. I'd had some meltingly tender braised beef cheeks at Jose Andres' restaurant Cafe Atlantico, and I'd also read some articles about the cheeks of veal, beef, pork, and even fish, and so when I saw the veal cheeks in Wagshal's freezer, I didn't hesitate. A little over a pound of veal cheeks turned out to be eight veal cheeks (picture the faces of four cute little baby cows). Last weekend I finally got around to cooking them. For veal cheeks (or beef cheeks) that means braising (although I just saw some 72-hour sous vide veal cheeks on another blog).

• Seared Braised Veal Cheeks
• Mashed Peruvian Purple Potatoes
• Roasted Carrots
• Reduction Sauce of Braising Juices
• Flat-leaf Parsley

For the veal cheeks, after they were all thawed, I set to trimming them. This meant cutting off the silverskin that covers most of one side of each cheek, and it took a bit of time to do it carefully, without too much waste, maybe 10 minutes. After they were all trimmed, I dried them thoroughly with paper towels, seasoned them with salt and pepper, and browned them a hot pan with some canola oil. I removed them from the pan, browned some onion, carrots, and leeks. Then I added just a bit of tomato paste, for a slight flavor bump (I've also read that the acidic tomato helps tenderize, but I haven't verified whether this is true). I stirred around the tomato paste until it was all cooking and started to stick to the bottom of the pan. Then I deglazed with red wine, then with white wine, and then let the wine reduce for a while. Finally, I added the veal cheeks back into the Dutch oven and added veal stock until they were covered.

I brought the pot to a boil, then put it in the oven to braise the cheeks at 325 F. After 2.5 hours, they seemed plenty tender to me. So I removed the cheeks to a narrow container (you'll see why it should be narrow). I then strained the braising liquid through a fine-mesh sieve and discarded the vegetables in the strainer. I added just enough of the liquid back to the container with the veal cheeks to just barely cover them (about 1/3 of the liquid in my case), and let the cheeks and juices cool. When you cool braised meat in its braising liquid, it evidently reabsorbs some of the liquid, making the final product much more juicy. So I left that container on the counter, covered, and then the remainder of the braising liquid back into the Dutch oven (after cleaning it out). I let it reduce on the stove for quite a while on high heat, maybe 30 minutes. Eventually, it reached the consistently of a perfect, amazingly rich stock. The highly gelatinous veal stock I'd added to the braise made this sauce awesomely unctuous and flavorful.

I made mashed potatoes in the normal way, but with some purple potatoes I got from Harris Teeter. If you'd like to know my mashed potatoes method, let me know in a comment below and I'd be happy to share. The carrots were halved lengthwise, tossed in salt, canola oil, and a touch of sugar, and roasted at 325 until tender and the edges were starting to lighten in color.

Finally, to bring it all together, I finished off the mashed potatoes with the butter and milk and seasoned it. I covered the pot to keep the potatoes warm. I took the cheeks out of the braising liquid (they should have cooled to room temperature by that time), patted them dry a bit with clean paper towels, and then seared them again in a nonstick pan. Finally, I toss the carrots for just 15 seconds or so in a hot pan to re-warm them and get a little extra browning, for added flavor. I put mounds of the potatoes in the centers of two wide, shallow bowls, placed half the cheeks on top of each, then poured a large quantity of the amazing warmed sauce around the potatoes. Finally, I stood up two carrots as erect as possible, propped up by the other food, and sprinkled some parsley over the whole affair for some color.

Again, this was just so amazing. I highly recommend you cook veal (or beef, or pig, or fish) cheeks, and I highly recommend you try them whenever available. Yum!

Posted by Barzelay on 2008/04/26 @ 2:27 | Comments (7) | Meat, Sauces, Condiments, Veggies, Fruit, Grain, Cheese

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