Ox cheeks

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 kg ox cheeks
• 1 pack of soup vegetables
• 2 m.-sized onion(s)
• 2 slices of Black Forest ham
• 1 tbsp mustard, medium hot
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 300 ml red wine
• 500 ml water
• 1 cube of beef broth powder, e.g. from Knorr
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 grains of allspice
• 1 rosemary sprig(s)
• 1 tsp sugar
• salt and pepper
• possibly vegetable stock powder
• some sauce thickener

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 3 hours 15 minutes; Total time approx. 3 hours 45 minutes

Rub the ox cheeks with the mustard and season with salt and pepper. Sear the cheeks in a small roasting pan. Toast the tomato paste and then deglaze with red wine. In a large roasting pan, brown the roughly chopped vegetables and roughly diced onions. Add the bay leaves, allspice, rosemary, and Black Forest ham and deglaze with the beef stock dissolved in the water. Stir in the teaspoon of sugar and season with vegetable stock powder, if desired. Add the meat and braise in a preheated oven at 180°C (top/bottom heat) for 3 hours. Turn the meat over every hour. Remove the ox cheeks and keep warm. Strain the vegetables and thicken the reserved sauce with a little sauce thickener according to the package instructions. Return the ox cheeks to the sauce and serve.