Beef Bourguignon
I remember watching the Julia Childs movie as a kid and eating Beef Bourguignon with my brother on the living room floor with snow falling outside. My mom used to make this recipe what seems like once or twice a month at least in the winter months. The aroma was so decadent and distinct. It is a beef stew that will warm your soul.
For this recipe, I ended up chopping and trimming a rolled roast from our collection of Flying F Ranch beef. I essentially just made my own stew meat since we had already ran out. That worked out great and I gave the extra scraps to the dogs as high value treat for training exercises.
I also tweaked this recipe a smidge, and doubled it so I could freeze some for later use this winter. As well, this recipe classically calls for pearl onions, and in this pandemic, as you probably know, you are lucky with whatever you find at the grocery store. So, no pearl onions this time.
Julia Childs inspo for this one, Bon Apetit!
Ingredients:
8 lbs beef stew meat chopped in 2 in cubes
One package of thick cut bacon
1 and 1/2 onions chopped in larger portions
2 large carrots chopped
4 smashed garlic
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups red wine (I used Chianti)
3 cups beef bone broth (see my bone broth recipe)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3 bay leaves
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1 lb sliced mushrooms
Chopped parsley for garnish
Either steamed baby potatoes, rice or pasta (bowtie, elbow, curled noodles) to serve with the stew.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375
Boil a pot of water and add in bacon that has been pre-cut into strips. I cut the bacon in half long ways and then chopped it into fourths. Once the water was boiled, add in bacon one by one and boil for about 10 mins. Strain and pat bacon dry with a paper towel.
Preheat a stock pot to medium high and sauté bacon with a small amount of olive oil. Cook until lightly brown and remove from pot and add into a large casserole dish.
Then, add in beef stew meat to the bacon fat. It is also important to pat the beef dry to allow it to brown best. Cook until brown on all sides and remove. Add the cooked beef to the bacon in the casserole dish and toss the flour in with the beef until absorbed.
Add in vegetables into the pot and cook through until they absorb the bacon and beef liquid.
While vegetables are cooking, place the casserole dish in the oven for 8 mins, then remove, toss around and bake for additional 8 mins. Remove casserole from oven and turn off.
Add the beef and bacon into the stock pot full of veggies. Add in the wine and continue to cook at a medium high heat until it starts to thicken, 10 mins or so.
Add in beef bone broth, thyme, salt and pepper and bay leaves. Cook for another 10 mins. Add in the mushrooms that were briefly sautéed in butter and then set to a low simmer. Or, transfer to a crock pot and set for high at 8 hours.
When finished, serve with steamed baby potatoes, rice or pasta. My boys love bow-tie pasta so they enjoyed their beef on top of that. I on the other hand, did white jasmine rice from a 3 minute cook bag from Trader Joes. Whatever you choose, it will be so so good.
Well, that is my version of Beef Bourguignon inspired by Julia Childs. Enjoy and let me know if you gave this one a try! It is a winter must have meal.