Beef Bourguignonne

 

However you spell it or say it, Beef Bourguignonne (Bourguignon, Burgundy, etc.), is a classic French dish made most famous by Julia Child. 

While we won't be making Julia Child's version here, it'll definitely be just as delicious!  One thing that does differ here is that we'll marinate the meat for a couple hours before we start - this helps to infuse the deep flavor of the wine and aromatics, and in my opinion, makes this one of the best recipes for this dish!

There's a long list of ingredients, but most of them are just pantry staples, so there's really no reason why not to make this!  Of course, it may take a little time to get the meat tender, but the end result is well worth it!  So this is how we spent our Sunday afternoon...

Ingredients:


3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 onion, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
small bunch of parsley stems (about 10)
4 inch piece of leek, split in half
1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon black peppercorns, crushed
salt and pepper, to taste
3 & 1/4 cups red wine
Beef chuck roast, about 2 & 1/2 to 4 lbs.  (ours was on the lighter side since it was just for the 2 of us!), cut into 1 inch cubes
 4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon tomato paste
4 tomatoes, quartered
2 cups beef stock
8 oz. portobello mushrooms, sliced
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup pearl onions, boiled and peeled

In a large bowl, combine the crushed garlic, onions, carrots, parsley stems, peppercorns, and wine.  Place the leek, thyme, and bay leaf in a cheesecloth or coffee filter.  Tie up tightly and place in mixture.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Add the meat to the mixture and let marinate for about 2 hours in the refrigerator, uncovered.

Remove the meat from the marinade and pay dry with paper towels.  Reserve the marinade, don't get rid of it.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven, and working in batches, brown the meat until caramelized.  Set aside until all meat is browned.

Return all meat to the dutch oven and sprinkle with the flour.  Stir until a blonde roux is formed (about 3-4 minutes).

 

Stir in tomato paste and cook mixture for about 5 minutes.

 

Add the reserved marinade, quartered tomatoes, and beef stock.  Place dutch oven in the oven and cook until meat is tender, about 2 & 1/2 hours.

Remove the meat from the sauce.  Strain sauce though a china cap or mesh strainer, pressing down to get any excess liquid.  Discard solids and return liquid, as well as the meat, to the dutch oven.

In a medium saute pan, melt the butter and saute the mushrooms briefly.  Add to dutch oven.  Add the pearl onions and season mixture with salt and pepper, to taste.  Simmer mixture for about 10 minutes to blend all of the flavors together.

Serve with mashed potatoes, egg noodles, rice, whatever you like!  This is definitely comfort food at it's finest!

Hope you all have a great start to your week!