Boeuf Bourguignonne

Boeuf Bourguignonne

Boeuf Bourguignonne has to be one of my all time favourite dishes to prepare for the family and for dinner parties. Once it's prepared you can just leave it to cook, leaving you plenty of time to make yourself pretty and tend to your guests without being tied to the kitchen. I love to serve mine with a huge dish of creamy mashed potatoes and green beans making sure there's plenty of crusty bread handy to mop up all the wonderful gravy. Traditionally this is made with a red Burgundy but a good rich New World wine would also be wonderful. As they say though, never cook with a wine that you wouldn't drink. It's so very true and it makes all the difference to the flavour.
You can, if preferred, cook this on the oven top simmering gently for 2 hours or so but I feel that the flavour is so much enhanced by oven cooking and you can just pop it in the oven and forget about it for 2 hours.          

recipe to serve 4

2lb stewing beef fat & gristle removed & cut into 1" cubes
3oz smoked bacon cut into lardons
16 small onions or shallots dipped into boiling water for 1 minute and skins removed
clove of garlic crushed
4 oz button mushrooms or larger ones sliced through
a bouquet garni, bay, thyme, parsley stalks and a ribbon of lemon zest, sandwich together with a halved celery stick and tied with string
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 oz butter
2 tsps flour
½ pt red wine
½ pt beef stock
freshly ground black pepper & sea salt to season
a few croutons and chopped parsley to garnish

1. Fry the beef in batches in the oil in a frying pan until nice & brown. place in a cast iron casserole dish
2. Deglaze the pan with a little red win scraping all the brown bits up and pour this into the casserole
3. Fry the onions in half the butter until brown, add the crushed garlic and stir in the flour cook for a minute stirring well. Add the rest of the wine and the stock. Keep stirring until boiling  again scraping the bottom of the pan. Add all to the casserole.
4. Add the bouquet garni to the casserole, season well. Cover and cook in the oven 150c/300f/gas 2 for around 2 hours until the meat is tender
5. Fry the bacon and the mushrooms quickly in the remaining butter until brown
6. add to the casserole and continue cooking for a further ½ hour
7. remove the bouquet garni
8. if the sauce is a little runny then it can be thickened with a little beurre manié or a little cornflour (slaked)
9. Check the seasoning and serve garnished with a few croutons and chopped parsley

 

Bouquet Garni