So I got this great cast iron pot for Christmas and wanted to make Beef Bourguinon (a la Julia &Julia)...but wasn't quite up to the "Real" recipe from Julia Child's book...so this is a simplified version...it's basically Beef Stew...but cooked longer in beef broth and red wine with pearl onions and mushrooms added at the end so they don't get cooked to death.
2-3 lbs boneless chuck roast, cut into large chunks (about 2" cubes)and patted dry with paper towels (or rolled in some flour to coat)
4 T butter
4-6 slices thick bacon, sliced in 1/2 inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 lg brown onions, chopped
2 large carrots, sliced
2 C beef broth (canned or I used "beef base" and water)
2-3 C red wine (traditionally Burgandy; I used Pinot Noir(cheap..about $8) and had to go back to Safeway to buy a corkscrew to get the cork out!)
bouquet garni (parsley, bay leaves, thyme wrapped with thread or tied in cheesecloth bag)
6 oz mushrooms, sliced or whole if they are small
about 20 pearl onions, peeled (I actually used a bag of frozen ones, but fresh are better)
2 T additional butter
salt and pepper
Cook the chopped onions and carrots in the butter about 10 minutes until softened; add the bacon slices and cook a few more minutes; add the beef chunks and cook, turning until all sides are well browned.
Pour broth and wine over the meat and add the bouquet garnie; cover pan with lid and place in 250-300 degree oven (I was going to be gone for several hours so I did it at 250 so I wouldn't end up with the disaster in the J & J movie) I left mine cooking for about 4 hours! At 300 degrees it might be more like 3 hours.
(*I stopped here and finished cooking it the next day)
It should be quite juicy...if you want a thicker gravy, at this point mix 2 T soft butter and 2 T flour into a paste. Add to it 1/4 C liquid from the stew, then stir back into the pot and cook until thickened.
Then saute the onions and mushrooms in the butter and dump on top of the stew before serving. I made the little roasted potatoes separately and served them on the side.
Here's the bouquet garni...some of the bay leaves escaped during cooking and had to be fished out...they're not good to swallow!
This is not a very appealing picture of the result...I'll have to learn to take more artful food photos!
***note...some recipes call for marinating the beef in the broth, wine and herbs for several hours or even for a couple of days(but then you'd have to drain it well and dry off the meat). I didn't and the meat was VERY tender and flavorful...way better than you standard stew...next time though I will "flour" the meat before browning
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