Beef cheek sliders - a hit at High Tea

What would you make if you were on 'savouries' for a bring-a-plate high tea? My sweet-loving mind had to think hard about what to make. Thanks to the popularity of sliders these days (thanks to Depot and Loaf Breads), my decision to make beef cheek sliders was made.

I quite enjoy making bread but since my Mum's breadmaker has been passed on to my sister-in-law, I now have to use elbow grease to knead my dough. It's not as difficult as I first thought it would be and the rhythmic kneading and turning can be quite therapeutic.

I made mustard sliders but something like rosemary and thyme would have been equally d'lish. Of course I understand that not everyone wants to make the bread as well as the meat component, so buying a bag of Loaf's sliders or even a focaccia sliced horizontally then cut into small portions would do equally well.

Beef cheeks were quite popular a year or so ago and even though they have since fallen out of fashion, I like them. I quite like the cheaper cuts of meat like beef cheeks, the sort that need a good few hours' simmering because the flavours that get into the meat is oh so delicious! Beef cheeks aren't at every butcher and luckily one of my locals had a few packets of frozen cheeks for $9 a kilo.

After defrosting the beef cheeks, I cut them into cubes, browned them, chucked them into a crock pot (slow cooker) with some herbs and a decent amount of wine and left the slow cooker to do its thing. The end result was a d'lish casserole for not too much effort - that's my kind of dish!

And I'm happy to say that the sliders went down a treat at the high tea party - I reckon giving it a fancy name helps! It was fun making them, even though it is not my usual rhythm... I just hope that I'm on 'sweets' next year.

Beef cheek sliders

Makes 20-40 sliders, depending on size
This is a slow cooker recipe, but you can easily do it in a normal pot.

Ingredients

Casserole

3 Tbsp oil
800g beef cheeks, cut into chunks
1 onion, roughly cut
1 carrot, roughly cut
2 celery sticks, roughly cut
1 Tbsp mustard seeds
1 Tbsp whole peppercorns
1/2 cinnamon quill
1 star anise
1 sprig rosemary
3 sprigs thyme
small handful of sage
500 ml red wine

Sauce
250 ml red wine
1 sprig thyme
1 tsp sugar

To assemble
Sliders
Mayonnaise
Baby mesclun salad greens

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a pan and brown the beef cheeks in batches. Put the beef in the slow cooker
2. Add the rest of the casserole ingredients to the beef and turn the slow cooker to low and cook 4-6 hours until the beef is tender
3. Take the beef out of the liquid and set aside
4. Strain the casserole liquid into a small saucepan and heat to a low simmer
5. Add the red wine, thyme and sugar, and reduce the liquid by half
6. Add salt and pepper to taste
7. Shred the beef and spoon over the sauce so it is nice and moist
8. Assemble by smearing each slider with some mayonnaise, spoon in some beef cheek mixture and top with baby mesclun salad greens

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