Classic French stew made with beef, wine, mushrooms and vegetables.

This delicious stew recipes comes with nods to Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, as well as Maurice Edmond Sailland’s (aka Curnonsky) Larousse Traditional French Cooking. I consider these to be two excellent reference volumes on French cuisine. Give them a read sometime.

I have also added a whole bulb of garlic just because it is what I prefer, but by no means did I really develop this recipe. Rather I combined the best of both worlds of thought on Boeuf Bourguignon.
This is a classic recipe, and it really does need that much wine. Use only wine you would drink yourself and not cooking wines (which have added sodium).

Ingredients:

• 3 3/4 pounds boneless beef bottom round roast
• 3 tablespoons bacon drippings
• 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• salt and black pepper
• 8 ounces carrots, roll cut
• 2 onions, cut pole to pole
• 1 tbsp. tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp. quatre épices spice blend
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 2 tsp. garlic paste
• 750mL Burgundy wine or Pinot Noir wine (one bottle)
• 12 fluid ounces beef broth
• 6 slices thick bacon, chopped
• 2 cups fresh pearl onions, trimmed
• 16 ounces crimini mushrooms, quartered
• 1 whole garlic, cloves separated and peeled
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 fluid ounces water
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh chopped parsley

Serve with boiled potatoes, cooked noodles or rice, or mashed potatoes

Method:

1. Trim fat and gristle from roast and slice, then cut into strips, then chunks. Pat the chunks dry with paper toweling.
2. Heat bacon drippings in the bottom of an ovenproof dutch oven. Sear beef chunks until browned, then set aside.
3. In the fat that remains, saute the slivered onions and carrots until browned, then set aside.
4. Place the beef back into the pot and sprinkle with the flour and salt and pepper, tossing to mix.
5. Bake uncovered at 450F for 4 minutes, then stir and bake another 4 minutes.
6. Lower oven temperature to 325F.
7. Add the browned onion and carrots to the beef, along with the tomato paste, along with the quatre de epices spice, thyme, bay leaves, and garlic paste.
8. Add wine and broth to the pan until the meat is just covered and stir.
9. Cover pan and bake at 325F for 2 hours.
10. While the beef is roasting, saute the bacon in a large nonstick skillet until it becomes translucent.
11. Add the whole pearl onions to the bacon, and cook, stirring, along with the bacon, until onions begin to brown.
12. Add the peeled garlic cloves and mushrooms to the pan and continue to cook until the mushrooms have given up their liquid and the vegetables are browned. Set aside.
13. After the beef has cooked for 2 hours, remove it from the oven, and remove the lid.
14. Stir in the mushroom mixture and place the pot back in the oven, UNCOVERED, for one hour.
15. At the end of this time, remove the pan from the oven and take the meat out of the pot, straining the liquid.
16. Drain off any fat from the pan drippings if necessary.
17. Stir 1 tablespoon of cornstarch into 1/4 cup of water until dissolved, then stir into the pan drippings in the pot. Cook on top of the stove, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens.
18. Stir the stew back into the sauce and add the chopped parsley.
19. Serve beef with boiled new potatoes, cooked noodles, rice, or mashed potatoes, whichever you prefer.

Cook & Prep: Allow about 4 hours to complete this recipe (3 hours roasting time)

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Two Tomato Gratin

Alsatian Quiche

Persian Grilled Lamb Chops

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