Beef cheeks in mulled wine sauce

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 3 beef cheeks
• 2 onions
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 large carrot(s)
• 1 parsley root(s)
• ¼ celeriac
• 3 sprigs rosemary
• 3 sprigs of thyme
• salt and pepper
• Five-spice powder
• 6 cardamom pods
• 8 allspice berries
• 4 juniper berries
• ½ cinnamon stick(s)
• ½ star anise
• Rapeseed oil
• 4 slices ginger root
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp sugar
• 300 ml mulled wine
• 300 ml currant juice
• 300 ml vegetable stock
• possibly flour butter

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 3 hours; Total time approx. 3 hours 30 minutes

Dice the onion and slice the garlic cloves. Peel the parsley root, carrot, and celery, and cut into small cubes or slices. Season the beef cheeks with salt, pepper, and five-spice powder. Heat a little rapeseed oil in a roasting pan and sear the cheeks all over. Remove from the roasting pan. Heat a little more oil and sauté the onion, garlic, ginger root, celery, parsley root, and carrot. Add the tomato paste and fry briefly, sprinkle with the sugar, and let it caramelize slightly. Deglaze with the mulled wine and simmer slightly. Add the currant juice and simmer slightly, then add the vegetable stock. Lightly crush the cardamom pods, juniper berries, allspice, and star anise in a mortar and pestle and place them in a spice bag along with the cinnamon stick. Return this to the roasting pan along with the cheeks. Scatter thyme leaves and rosemary needles over the meat, then add the stems to the sauce. Cover the roasting pan, place it in an oven preheated to 120°C, and roast the cheeks for about 3 hours. The meat will then be tender as butter. Remove the beef cheeks from the roasting pan, strain the sauce through a sieve, squeeze out the excess water from the vegetables, and reduce the sauce slightly. If desired, you can thicken the sauce with a little butter. I personally prefer to leave it as is; the flavor is more intense this way. Season to taste with salt and pepper.