Ingredients: |
Ingredients: salt and pepper
8 ounces bacon, diced
2 tsp chopped garlic, about 2 cloves
½ cognac or brandy
1 (750 ml) bottle good dry red wine (if you would drink it, then that’s the bottle to use for this)
2–2 ½ cups beef broth
4 Tbsp (½ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 pound mushrooms, discard the stems, thickly slice the caps
1 garlic clove, cut in half
½ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 pound carrots, sliced diagonally into 1 inch cubes
1 Tbsp olive oil
2½ pounds beef chuck, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 yellow onions, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 loaf good country bread, sliced and toasted
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Directions: |
Directions:Preheat your oven to 250º. In a large Dutch oven, or large skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the bacon and cook over medium heat until the bacon is lightly browned, about 8-10 minutes. With a slotted spoon remove the bacon and set it aside.
Dry the beef really well with paper towels. The drier the beef, the better it will brown. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add the beef to the Dutch oven, and over high heat, sear the beef on all sides until it’s nicely brown. Once it’s nicely brown on all sides, remove it with a slotted spoon and set aside. Depending on the size of your Dutch oven or skillet, you may need to brown the meat in a couple of batches. Be careful not to crowd too much beef in the pan at once, or it won’t brown.
Add the carrots, onions, 1 tablespoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of pepper into the fat in the pan. Cook over medium heat for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Then add the cognac, STAND BACK, and ignite with a match to burn off the alcohol. If you’re nervous about the whole match and fire thing, just make sure to bring the cognac to a boil for a few minutes, until the liquid evaporates and this will also burn off the alcohol. Add the meat and the bacon back into the pan with any accumulated juices. Add the wine and enough broth to just cover the meat. Stir in the tomato paste and thyme. Bring to a boil, cover pot and cook in the oven for about 1¼ hours.
You want the meat and vegetables to be tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from oven and place back onto the stove.
Mix 2 tablespoons of butter and the flour with a fork and stir into the stew. In a medium pan, sauté the mushrooms and the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms to the stew. Bring stew to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Season to taste.
Rub each slice of bread on one side with garlic. Place slice of bread in bottom of a bowl, ladle the stew over the bread and garnish with parsley. |
This recipe for Beef Bourguignon is from