Beef Braised in Ale with Persillade | Guest Recipes | Nigella's Recipes | Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

• 1 kilogram ox cheeks (I cut them into 4–8 pieces, but cut into chunks if you prefer)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 50 grams butter
• 2 large onions (roughly chopped)
• 2 celery sticks (roughly chopped)
• 2 carrots (roughly chopped)
• 200 grams baby onions or small shallots (peeled and left whole)
• 2 tablespoons tomato puree
• 6 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
• 30 grams plain flour
• 330 millilitres ale
• 300 millilitres beef stock ideally (or use chicken or vegetable)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped sage
• 8 tablespoons persillade
• splash of excellent vinegar, or lemon juice
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ½ small bunch of flatleaf parsley
• 1 garlic clove