Oh!
My!
Wow!
I have made THE Julia Child Beef Bourguinon. Thrice. It is our new Christmas traditional meal. We had it the last two Christmases and once before that - when I made it for the first time for a wonderful dinner party.... I slaved- quite literally - ALL DAY LONG on the Julia Child version. No way I would make it on just any day. But.... Sometimes you just want some foodie decadence. So, I made this once before, and promised the recipe.... Better late than never, right?
Ingredients:
2.5 - 3 pounds beef stew meat
1 pound bacon
2T melted butter
1 pound pearl onions, peeled (frozen ones are pre-peeled, easy peasy!)
1 pound carrots, sliced (or baby carrots)
8 cloves garlic, minced
1T tomato paste (tomato paste is so thinck, I usually let it heap somewhat on the measuring spoon)
2 1/2 cups red wine
spices:
1T Herbs de Provence (I did a medium heap in the middle of my palm)
1t sea salt (I just toss in some Blessed salt - smallish pile in palm)
1t black pepper (I think I did about 15-20 twists of a pepper grinder)
sprinkle thyme (I used about as much thyme as I did salt)
Ingredients for the last hour of cooking: (which can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated until needed)
2 pounds white mushrooms
2 T butter
dash of herbs de provence
1 pound baby red potatoes (steamed/cooked)
2T butter
1T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
rosemary
salt (sea salt or table salt, whatever your preference...)
What to do:
Put the melted butter in the crockpot and coat the bottom of the crockpot with it.
Put half your bacon on the bottom of the crockpot.
Put your onions on the bacon.
In a bowl, combine the tomato paste, herbs de provence, salt, pepper, & thyme.
Toss the beef in the tomato herb mixture until evenly coated, add in the garlic and mix again.
Dump meat on top of the onions in the crockpot.
Put the rest of the bacon on top of the meat.
Put the carrots on top of the bacon, and pour the wine over all of it.
Cook on low 8-10 hours.
IN THE LAST HOUR OF COOKING:
Saute the mushrooms in 2T butter in a skillet. If you have never done it before, what you want to wait for is after the mushrooms soak up all the butter, they will start to 'sweat' in the skillet. That is when they are done - or at least, close to it. You can usually saute them for another 5 minutes to make sure they are all evenly done. Preheat the skillet and melt the oil on med-high heat before you add the mushrooms. Once you add the 'shrooms, stir them almost constantly for even cooking :) Once they are cooked, add them into the crockpot and stir them in.
Cook/Nuke your potatoes. Using the same skillet you cooked your mushrooms in, saute the potatoes in the 2T butter and 1T olive oil, a few dashes of rosemary and some salt and pepper. When they are browned to your liking, you have 2 choices: either serve the beef on top of the potatoes, OR mix the potatoes in the crockpot with the beef...
Suggestions for making it even better:
1. If you have time, pat the beef dry with paper towels. After patting the beef dry, brown it in a skillet - on high heat, just for a minute on each side. You only want to brown 3-4 pieces at a time, do not over-crowd the pan. If you do this, you will need to brown it in a bit of fat, the preferred one here is bacon fat....
2. If you want the sauce to be more like a gravy, take out some of the sauce with a ladle and thincken it using cornstarch (+cold water) or potato starch, or arrowroot powder....
3. Best wine to use is a French Burgandy or a Pinor Noir from a Northern winery (Northern California, Oregon) I always use a Pinot from a northern area, they tend to be less expensive than French wines, and honestly, I NEVER spend more than $10 for the bottle.
4. Drink the rest of the bottle of wine with someone you love as it is cooking.
5. It is a VERY rich meal. If the sauce is a little too buttery for your taste the first time you make it, decrease all butter amounts by 1/2. (I keep thinking I need to decrease them, until I cook it again because it is so long between times when I make this! Of course, if you just LOVE butter and bacon drippings and want all the trappings, go light on breakfast and lunch and have at it :) ) You could also decrease the amount of bacon by 1/2 OR precook the bacon so the drippings from the bacon as it cooks are not ALL left in the recipe. The important thing with the bacon is to have 1/2 on the bottom of your crockpot and 1/2 on top of the meat...
6. Watching carbs? Skip the potatoes all together and opt for a healthier mashed cauliflower, or spaghetti squash to serve this dish atop.
7. You may be wondering what side dish would work with this, or even if one is needed at all. A nice green salad is always a good bet, but if you want to "save plates" - and your hands - from washing later, basic cooed green beans or asparagus with toasted almond slivers is a fantastic complement to the dish... If you opt for salad, I tend to prefer something with a spring mix, maybe some walnuts and bleu-cheese...
8. If you are entertaining, parsley makes a pretty garnish, and serve it with the same wine you used in cooking.
With exactly the ingredients I have listed, my crockpot was full, and we counted 28 heaping-ish ladle-fulls.... With 2 ladles per serving (if you serve it as a stew like I did), you get about 14 servings. If your ladles are not quite so heaping, you could get upwards of 20 servings - especially if you skip the potatoes and serve it on pasta or spaghetti squash and some good, healthy green veggies on the side.
Bon Appetit!
