You’re sure to impress the Father’s Day lunch crowd with any one of these meaty meals

OSTRICH POTJIE

SERVES 6
PREP TIME 40 min
COOK TIME 6 hrs 

 INGREDIENTS
8 baby onions
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 cm ginger, grated
200 g flour
1 kg ostrich neck, cubed
1 L chicken stock
1 tin chopped tomatoes
4 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
5 sage leaves
4 thyme sprigs
2 rosemary sprigs
2 dried chillies
500 g baby potatoes
250 g baby carrots, halved
250 g baby marrows, halved

METHOD
1. Heat some oil in a potjie. Gently fry onions until browned.
2. Add garlic and ginger; fry for 1 min. Remove from the potjie and set aside.
3. Season the flour and lightly coat the ostrich. Heat some more oil over a high heat. Fry in batches until browned.
4. Return all the ostrich and onions to the potjie. Add the stock, tomatoes, herbs and chillies. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 5 hours.
5. Add the remaining veggies and simmer, uncovered, for about 1 hour, until the sauce has reduced. Season and serve.

COCOA-BRAISED BEEF CHEEKS

SERVES 4
PREP TIME 3 hrs
COOK TIME 20 min 

 INGREDIENTS
400 g beef cheeks
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
½ celery stalk, finely chopped
1 tsp cocoa powder
2 cups red wine
400 g tin Italian chopped tomatoes

METHOD
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Heat some oil in an oven-proof pot until it is extremely hot.
3. Pat the beef cheeks dry and season them well with salt and black pepper. Fry in batches until browned all over. Place the beef and the cooking juices in a dish and set aside.
4. Heat more oil in the same pot, and fry the onions, carrots and celery until softened.
5. Stir in the cocoa, then gradually add the wine to deglaze the pot. Boil for about 10 minutes, until the liquid has reduced by half.
6. Return the beef cheeks and their cooking juices to the pot. Add tomatoes and season. 
7. Bring to a simmer, then cover with baking paper and transfer to the oven. Braise the beef cheeks for 3 hours, until the meat is perfectly tender.

HOME-MADE BILTONG

MAKES 1 kg
PREP TIME 20 min
DRYING TIME 3 – 6 days 

 INGREDIENTS
150 ml white-wine vinegar
2 tbsp coarse salt
2 tbsp coriander seeds, toasted and crushed
2 kg beef (we used silverside) cut into 2 cm-thick slices

METHOD
1. Mix all the ingredients, except the beef, together in a large glass or ceramic dish (not metal).
2. Add the beef, make sure that it’s fully covered with the mixture. Soak overnight, refrigerate for about 2 hours of that time.
3. Remove the meat from the vinegar mixture and hang it up to dry in a space free from flies and ideally with a fan moving the air. Moisture is the enemy of biltong, so make sure to keep it as dry as possible. If you have a biltong machine at home, use that.
4. Leave to hang for 3–6 days, until dried to your liking.