With the colder weather having set in we were delighted when Meredith got in touch with us and offered to share her Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks recipe with The Healthy Gut. Meredith is training to become a nutritionist and loves creating healing, comforting meals. We loved trying out this recipe, after a hard day it was lovely to come home to the delicious smell of the beef, which had been slow cooking throughout the day. It's delicious served up with a portion of roast pumpkin or thyme-roasted carrots from the SIBO Family Favourites Cookbook. The beef cheeks are cooked in Meredith's own beef bone broth, the recipe is at the bottom of the page. It's definitely worth making and adds a lovely flavour to the dish.

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Slow cooked beef cheeks recipe

Recipe contributed by: Meredith East-Powell

Serves: 4

Classification: Restricted Phase (Bi-Phasic Diet), gluten-free, dairy free 

Ingredients

600g beef cheeks

2 tbsp tomato paste

3 cups of homemade beef bone broth

5 carrots, chopped

1 stick of celery sliced

1 bay leaf

1 tsp thyme leaves

1/3 cup of flat leaf parsley chopped (to garnish upon serving)

1 ½ tsp sea salt

½ tsp pepper

1 tbsp coconut oil (for searing the beef cheeks)

Method

If you have a removable slow cooker pan that can go on the stovetop or oven, remove it from the slow cooker, add the coconut oil and place it on a med-high heat on the stove top (if you don’t have this type of slow cooker pan then use a large saucepan with a lid).

Place the beef cheeks in the pan with the tomato paste, and coat them in the tomato paste. Sear them until lightly brown (it should only take a few minutes).

Then add the remaining ingredients (except the parsley) and cover with a lid. Once the liquid starts to bubble, place it in the slow cooker and turn on low (if you’re using a saucepan instead of a slow cooker leave on the stovetop and turn the heat to as low as possible, it should cook very gently) leave for 8-12 hours.

Once it’s ready I like to pull the beef cheeks apart with a fork. Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley and with some green beans and Rebecca's tasty roasted pumpkin or carrots from the SIBO Family Favourites Cookbook.

Beef bone marrow broth

Makes: Approx. 2L

Ingredients

1.4kg bone marrow beef bones cut into pieces (just ask your butcher to do this for you)

2 tbsp tomato paste

20 peppercorns

3 star anise

1 tsp sea salt

1 bay leaf

6 carrots, roughly chopped

1 celery stick, roughly chopped

6 sprigs of thyme

3 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp coconut oil for frying

Filtered water to cover the ingredients (approx. 2 ¼ litres)

Method

If you have a removable slow cooker pan that can go on the stovetop or oven, remove it from the slow cooker, add the coconut oil and place it on a med-high heat on the stove top (if you don’t have this type of slow cooker pan then use a large saucepan or stockpot with a lid).

Place the bones in the pan and the tomato paste, try and coat them in the tomato paste. Sear them until lightly brown (it should only take a few minutes).

Add the other ingredients and cover with filtered water, cover with a lid, bring to the boil then place in the slow cooker on low for 8-12 hours (you can use the stove top for slow cooking but ensure the heat is as low as possible).

After a few hours skim the scum sitting on top of the liquid. Once the broth is finished, remove the bones and pour through a sieve so you're left with the broth only. It can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days but otherwise, keep some in the freezer.

When you remove it from the fridge there may be a layer of fat on top, just remove this with a knife before using.

Guest Contributor - Meredith East-Powell

Meredith has tackled health problems for over 10 years and after many visits to various doctors, she was diagnosed with endometriosis. This didn’t, however, provide an answer to her digestive problems. Eventually, Meredith found an integrative doctor and in 2015 she was diagnosed with SIBO, following her diagnosis Meredith commenced treatment which included the Biphasic SIBO diet. Meredith’s journey inspired her and she is studying to be a nutritionist to help others find good health, is an avid yoga practitioner and loves to create healing recipes, Meredith shares her recipes and health tips on her blog and Instagram.