Beef Bourguignon My Way
I will never be able to give up eating winter dishes all year round. There is just something therapeutic about a pot of soup boiling or some beef ribs braising on the stove. Plus the way it makes the house smell beats any fragrance that Febreeze can ever make. However, if they could somehow manage to duplicate that wonderful bacon smell I would never leave the house.
Thankfully Saturday was the perfect sunny low 70s degree day and I was able to start on some outdoor tasks. I rented a power thatcher and just beat the living hell out of my yard. There is something else that is therapeutic about tools that require gas to operate and could put you in a hospital. I was more shocked by the amount of thatch that it pulled up and it filled a 3×3 compost bin more than halfway. If you do not know thatch is that nasty dead grass layer that gets matted down. Every couple of years it is good to remove it so the soil can be exposed and also makes it easier for fertilizer to get to the roots. On a side note does anyone have any good recipes for organic fertilizer?
Sunday we once again were faced with a large amount of rain. The best part was softball practice was canceled but I was stuck inside all day long. My mind started gravitating towards beef stew so time to visit the fridge and freezer to see what do I have available.
Beef Bourguignon is a classic French dish. The core of Beef Bourguignon is beef braised in red wine and garnished with pearl onions and mushrooms. I took a few liberties from the core dish such as I was to lazy to seperatly braise the pearl onions and the mushrooms in beef stock.
I am still amazed daily as I read other blogs how many people live in fear of changing around a recipe especially a classic. Recipes are meant to be adapted to your tastes! Heck the reason why some of the classic dishes did not include other ingredients is because the ingredient was unavailable. Unlike today where I can get avocado all year round even though I have never seen an avocado tree.
Do not fear people a ruler wielding nun is not going to break through your front door and start smacking your knuckles because you did not put exactly 223.5 grams of egg noodles in your dish.
This reminds me of an e-mail I received a couple weeks ago:
“Did you ever hear about the Mom who always cut the end off the ham prior to cooking her famous ham dinner? Her kids asked her why exactly she did that and she replied, “that is the way my Mom always prepared it”. After 20 minutes or so, as she reflected, she phoned her Mom and asked why exactly the ham got cut prior to putting in the pan for baking? Her Mom chuckled on the other line and then explained that often the hams she bought just didn’t fit into the pan quite right, and so she cut the end off to make it fit”
For this recipe you will need:
- 2 lbs of chuck roast cut into bite size pieces
- 1 bottle of wine
- 5 cloves of garlic diced
- 2 cups of chicken, beef, or veal stock (I used veal stock)
- 1 tablespoon Hungarian paprika
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano
- heavy pinch of crushed red pepper
- Couple good handfuls of peeled pearl or cipollini onions cut into bite size pieces
- 3 carrots cut into bite size pieces
- 2 stalks of celery cut into bite size pieces
- 1/2 cup of sun dried tomatoes cut into bite size pieces
- Package of mushrooms cut into bite size pieces
- Couple potatoes cut into bite size pieces
- 1/2 cup of frozen peas
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- High temperature oil and butter or leftover bacon grease
- All purpose flour
Toss the pieces of chuck roast in salt, pepper, and flour and shake off the excess. In your favorite Dutch oven over medium-high add in a good squirt of oil along with two tablespoons of either bacon grease or butter. Working in batches brown the chuck roast all over. After all the chuck roast has been browned add in the garlic, paprika, and tomato paste and cook for another minute.
Add the chuck roast back into the Dutch oven along with the bottle of wine, stock, oregano, thyme, rosemary, worcestershire sauce, and crushed red pepper. Let this mixture come to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and let it cook for two hours. If you attempt to taste the sauce it will taste very bitter from the wine however, your patience will be rewarded.
Add to the pot the sun dried tomatoes, onions, celery, potatoes, and carrots. Bring the mixture back to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover, and let it cook for another 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes uncover the Dutch oven and add in the peas and cook for another 8 minutes. Taste the sauce and adjust the flavors. If the sauce tastes bitter add a squirt of honey.
Serve and enjoy!
What a perfect dish for a rainy, lazy Sunday. It looks wonderful!
I had to laugh at your description of you beating the living hell out of your yard. Every weekend, my husband is out in ours with his Indiana Jones hat, wielding his personalized machete and assorted other gear. He says it helps him to “de-stress”!
Oh, and don’t remind me about those nuns with rulers! I spent a fortune in therapy to help me forget!
I am with you - winter dishes are my favorite. This stew looks rich, hearty and delicious.
I love the ham story - your mom must have gotten a laugh when she talked to her mom and found out the real reason she cut off the ham ends.
A very comforting dish! Glad you are getting some warm weather!
was this what you put the horseradish on? No! don’t tell me! I’m starving! LOL
This looks so good, Jeff, but everything you make does. And I’m with you on eating winter dishes all year round, oh yeah!
Mulching, composting and fertilizing, noooo clue. Ick!
Yeah this is a gooood winter dish to keep in the rotation. And those little cheesey toasts just top it off!
I don’t eat beef but my family does. They would like your meal. Thanks for sharing.
Wow, that looks so homey and wonderful!
I agree, the way a house smells when you are cooking something like that is awesome!
In response to your question on my blog, so far the carrot muffins are the only thing I have made with the agave nectar, but I will be trying out some more things in the near future. I’m thinking of some kind of a healthier version of a sticky cinnamon roll…we’ll see what happens!
This looks good!
I loved the ham story!
Do you rent one of those huge, noisy, aerorater (spelling?) things too? That’s always a big deal around here.
I could use some of that right now. There are high winds and cold rain hammering my house and the puppies and I are hiding out.
Looks so wonderfully soothing and delicious.
I remember that story about the roast! Too funny.
Dawn yes this is what the horseradish sour cream mixture went on but well hmm….let us just say the photographs did really make it look that appetizing.
I should clarify too that the ham story is not my mom’s story but rather some random story someone sent me. I think the point of the story was don’t follow rules strictly or something.
It’s getting colder here by the day as Winter approaches and I agree about the therapeutic effect of Winter food. I adore having a warming soup or a roast in an oven! This looks magnificent and lol at the pork story!
That looks absolutely delicious! Like Lorraine, I’ve been thinking about different soups and stews to start making as it gets a little colder and this would be a perfect dinner.
I love winter food although I’m living in a 2 seasons country - hot and rainy.
This beef bourguignon sounds so wonderful
This would be soo perfect right now on this cold, rainy, chilly night. It looks so comforting, inviting and delicious!
Wow, this look so delicious and mouth watering recipe.
Cheers,
elra
wow–that last picture took my breath away. fabulous dish, jeff–your way is a good way.
Jeff, yesterday was real shitty here, weatherwise…a beef bourguignon like yours would have hit the spot.
i bet my hubby will love this… great creation!!!
I hear you on keeping those comfort dishes rotating all year long - this beef dish looks so darn good….
Jeff, this looks freaking fabulous! And I’m with you–I’ll make comforting and hearty recipes all year ’round. As long as the AC’s running, though, hehe.
We have to do that this weekend in our yard–there’s lots of thatch in the back that we need to go through. And getting the garden ready to go is a priority, too.
I think I’ll make this on the first really hot day we have, hehehe!
Love the story of cutting off the end of the ham! Ah yes… tradition!
While I agree with you that winter food is good all year long - and especially the smells! - the weather we’re having here right now makes it difficult to turn on anything that requires heat. It will change by tomorrow, though….
Your recipe looks fabulous!
now I am missing my dutch oven which is, sadly, locked up in storage 3000 miles away. and things like cast iron dutch ovens, in Mexico, are expensive.
I like to play with recipes, like you what fun is it to just follow a recipe.
Thank you for visiting my blog and yes that little saying at the header is one of my favorites of all time.
I don’t know why you call your blog Culinary Disasters cause everything I’ve seen is wonderful!! Great job Jeff!
I’ve always wanted to make this but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Looks fantastic!
I love Beef Bourguignon…and certainly cant limit it to my winter meals. I make it different every time…but I do like Ina Garten’s recipe….its quite good! Yours looks fabulous too. Glad you are starting to have nice weather—its been 50’s and rain here.
This looks so good! I also agree that you should change up recipes, if you don’t like an ingredient leave it out. I’ve come up with some of my favorite recipes because I do alter them to my taste. Great story about the ham too.
Love this classic dish, and completely agree - changes are good.