Slow cooked beef cheeks

After trying out pig cheeks and cod cheeks, I really wanted to try out this beef cheek recipe I had been eyeing up so picked up a couple of frozen cuts from a butcher close to where my Nana lives in Newdigate. As the cheeks get the most work from the cow, I thought the best way to cook them would be to braise them for a good 3 hours in a red wine and beef stock liquor.

Once unfrozen, I was hoping to be able to kick off and start browning however the cheeks had not been trimmed as I don't think there is a huge demand for them and they had come straight from the freezer out back. I highly advise you get your butcher to do this for you in advance (unless you have good butchering skills - I don't) as I am sure I wasted a lot of the meat as I hacked away at it. Nevertheless, after it's very slow cooking, the meat was so tender it just fell apart on the plate.

Passion Fruit Cupcakes

After a trip to yet another food market on London's Southbank, I came back with a jar of the most delicious award-winning passion fruit curd from a stall called The Cherry Tree - website here: http://www.cherrytreepreserves.co.uk/.

Tart and sweet and bursting with tropical passion fruit flavours, I was dying to use it in some kind of baked good. So I did cupcakes. 24 of them.