Contents:
- Editor's welcome
- Britain’s Got Talent - Young stars finish second
- Men of Rochdale 2019: Paul Ellison & Ray Smith
- Stephen Gartland Foundation
- Buckley Menswear goes digital
- Reuse Littleborough
- Slow-cooked ox cheek recipe »
- Rochdale's Got Talent
- Jolly Josh - a portrait of families in lockdown
- Rochdale Town Hall: Then and Now
- Being Ellysse Mason
- RAFC players read dinosaur story for schools
- Giant artwork celebrating the best bits of Rochdale opens
- Castleton Health and Leisure Centre
- Hairdressing Trend - High-Vis Red
- Rochdale manufacturer beats Bank of England to green award
- Apple & blueberry crumble with homemade custard recipe
- Bluebird Care Rochdale recognised as best in Bluebird Group
- The importance of making a will
- Take a walk at Watergrove
- Boost for local manufacturing institute plans
Winter 2020Slow-cooked ox cheek recipe
Ben Shepherd, head chef at the award-winning Baum on Toad Lane, shares the secrets of the winter dish everyone can’t get enough of.
“I’ve had a pretty wild trip since we reopened The Baum, new job, new menu, feels like a completely new pub. It’s been a riot.
“We try and do serious, modern British food, you know, decent homely stuff but with a little flair. People rave about the ox cheek and I get why.”
Ingredients:
4 ox cheeks
½ a head of celery - diced
2 carrots - diced
2 medium onions - diced
4 cloves of garlic - sliced
2 bay leaves
A few sprigs each of rosemary and thyme
½ a bottle of red wine
1 pint of Bovril
1 star anise
Salt and pepper
This isn’t a rush job. If you’re after a 15 minute meal you are seriously in the wrong place.
To kick things off, you want to pop your oven on about 180ºC and get a good sized casserole dish at the ready. In a frying pan over a medium heat melt some butter, then fry your diced vegetables for a few minutes. Season it with salt and black pepper. Once your onions have gone a little translucent, lob in your garlic, give it two minutes to fry off then chuck it in the casserole dish.
In the same pan, drop in another knob of butter, season each cheek and sprinkle with a little flour, then once the butter is bubbling, carefully lay them in the pan. After three minutes turn them over, after three more take them out and add to the casserole dish.
Add a good splash of red wine into the pan and scrape off any goodness that’s stuck on the bottom. Add in the rest of the red wine, your bay leaves, rosemary and thyme then boil away for a few minutes. Then add it all into the pot with a pint of Bovril. Other beef stock is available but we’re big fans. Chuck in a star anise if you’ve got it.
Shove a lid on it, pop it in the oven and forget about it for four or five hours. Then carefully lift out the cheeks, pick out your herbs and star anise and blitz the reminder with a hand blender. If it’s not thick enough, you can reduce it or add some gravy granules. Give it one last hit of black pepper.
At The Baum we serve this with an incredible smoked mash and honey roast carrots, but you can put this with anything and it will sing.