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While I was clicking around the TAFE NSW website looking for a Commercial Cookery course to enrol in (oh yeah, I'm going through a quarter life crisis and having my first big career change right now...), I came across a few words that had me do a double take... 'WIN Dinner for two at award winning chef and TAFE NSW Ambassador Matt Moran's ARIA Restaurant!'

Now, ARIA is one of those beautiful restaurants that you hear about all the time and only dream of going to... so when I saw that all I had to do to enter was take photos of a dish I'd created (including the recipe) and share it on social media - there was only one thing to do: get cooking!

I chose one of my favourite weeknight recipes to make - a simple slow cooked beef cheek (in my $30 slow cooker) with a fresh tomato sauce and farfalle (bowtie) pasta. As with most slow cooker recipes, it takes about 10 minutes to prepare and you can leave it on while you're at work and come home to the most tender meat (and beautiful smells in the house!). I tend to set up my slow cooker the night before and leave it for around 20-22 hours on the lowest setting to give those fibrous muscles the most time to relax and become soft and flaky.

Luckily enough my image got the most 'likes' on Instagram and now I'm the proud holder of a $350 gift card to ARIA!

Ingredients

• 600g beef cheeks

• 1 onion, diced

• 1/2 cup beef stock

• 1 cup wine

• 1 tsp worcestershire sauce

• 5 tomatoes

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1/4 cup flour

• salt and pepper

• 250g farfalle

• 1/4 cup parsley

• parmesan, to taste

Method

1. Dust beef cheeks in the flour, salt and pepper, and brown off in a pan .

2. Place beef cheeks in a slow cooker with onion, beef stock, red wine and worcestershire sauce .

3. Leave beef cheeks to cook on a low setting for 22 hours. Go to bed, go to work, etc.

4. Shred the beef cheeks using two forks and let them sit in the cooking liquid for about 10 minutes to soak it back up.

5. In the meantime, cook 5 diced tomatoes and 2 cloves chopped garlic on low heat in a deep frying pan. When tomatoes have softened, add beef cheek and cooking liquid, and leave on medium heat for 10 mins to reduce

6. While the sauce is reducing, cook 250g farfalle (bowties) in salted boiling water until al dente (8-9 min or according to packet instructions)

7. Drain the pasta and add to beef cheek mixture, and let sit for 2 minutes. Add chopped parsley, parmesan and salt and pepper to taste.

Let me know if you give this recipe a go and how it turns out!

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