Beef with Bourbon & Cola & Lemon Blueberry Cheescake

Beef with Bourbon & Cola
Women’s Weekly Cooking for Friends Pg 45

Blueberry Lemon Meringue Cheesecake
Women’s Weekly Cooking for Friends Pg 125

Hi everyone, I hope you have had a great week and tried out some new recipes from your collection of cookbooks.

This week I used the slow cooker again (always a bonus when you can put dinner on 8 hours in advance).  It called for beef cheeks which I have never used before as well as an unusual combination of Bourbon, beef stock and cola.  How could I resist trying this one!  Now here’s the thing – whilst this meal got 10/10 (and yes, I am happy) I was disappointed in that the meat didn’t fall apart after cooking.  This sauce was absolutely beautiful and it just made you want to dip bread into it and soak it all up, however, I wanted more from the meat.  The highlight for me was the celeriac mash.  This ugly and underrated root vegetable is so full of flavour and I will certainly be using it again and again.  What I did find was that the celeriac was not to be found at the local grocery store and I had to go a little further afield but it was worth it.  Add the simplicity of beans and carrots and the meal is done.  So what will I do differently next time – I am certainly going to try this again because of the wonderful sauce but I am going to use gravy beef which I know will fall apart after 8 hours in the slow cooker.  This one is a must for those of you who just want to come home to a meal already done after a day at work.  Pop it on a timer before you leave and voila!

I was so excited to try this dessert because it had the most luscious picture of it in the book and also because it was an unusual combination of ingredients and textures.  It appealed to my creative side even though I was a little nervous about whether or not I could manage piping the meringue onto the cheesecake without it all falling off.  You have your standard cheesecake with a biscuit base topped with a cream cheese and mascarpone mixture.  This is baked (always prefer baked cheesecakes as they are lighter somehow).  After that it is topped with store bought lemon curd – too easy.  Blueberries are added and then meringue is piped around the outside of the cheese cake and on the top – get out your little blow torch and brown the meringue.   It’s one of those desserts that looks so much harder than it is so go impress your friends and family.  It is not easy to cut so I suggest you use baking paper on the bottom of the springform pan to lift it out.  Now here’s the thing, as I said it has many textures to it and the MAV (who adores sweets) just couldn’t hack the feeling in his mouth but everyone else gave it a 14/10 – woooooh, best score ever.  Please, please give this one a go.

Until next week,

From my table to yours with love.