Boeuf Bourguignon - aka Fancy Pants Beef Stew

Bon Appétit!

Anyone who has seen "Julie & Julia" knows the significance ascribed to this dish. It just might be my favorite stew recipe ever.  It sounds fancy (shout out to my friend Kelli, who's adorable kids have dubbed me "fancy cooking pants" - this post title is for you guys!) and takes a long time to cook, but it's actually not that complicated and it tastes simply A-mazing.  The wine makes the meat incredibly tender and flavorful, and all of the butter sautéed veggies and the tomato paste add an incredible richness, while the thyme creates a woodsy heartiness.  So many layers of flavor, so incredibly delicious!

This recipe is not Julia's recipe, but the recipe that my Mom and one of my Aunts have always made.  This particular Aunt has a very discerning French husband, and this dish receives his seal of approval! It would be very French to serve it with a toasted buttered baguette, but I like it over a big scoop of mashed potatoes, a la American.  The final French touch, is a condiment - put a dollop of dijon mustard on the side of your bowl to dip the meat into - really brings out the flavor.

This makes quite a bit of stew - I would say it easily serves 6 people, so  have people over, plan for some delish leftovers, or halve the recipe.  SO without further ado - Boeuf Bourguinon.  Bon Appétit!!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs stew beef, trimmed (if it's in really large chunks, cut it into more bite sized pieces)
• 3/4 lb baby carrots, cut in half on the bias (aka diagonally)
• 1/2 to 2/3 bottle of nice red wine (nothing sweet)
• 2 cans reduced sodium beef broth
• 16 oz white button mushrooms (2 packages) cut into thin slices.
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/3 can tomato paste
• 1 cup of frozen pearl onions
• 1/2 cup frozen baby green peas
• 2 whole bay leafs
• 3 cloves garlic, mince
• Worcestershire sauce
• All purpose flour
• S&P
• Butter
• Olive Oil

Directions:
In a large dutch oven* melt 3 T butter and 3 T EVOO over medium high heat.  Season your stew meat with a bit of S&P, and working in small batches, brown the meat but don't worry about cooking it through.  The reason you do this in small batches is so that the meat doesn't get too crowded and steam which leads to gray meat.  When you give the meat more room to cook, it browns up to a beautiful color.  Remove the batches as they complete, and sprinkle them with some flour. Toss to coat.  The flour helps to thicken the stew later on. Set aside.

In the same pot, add another 2 T of butter, and add the carrots. Season with a bit of S&P. Sauté them for about 2 minutes and then add 3 T of flour to the pot.  Turn the heat down to medium.  Stir constantly and keep scraping the bottom of the pot with a flat bottomed wooden spoon.  If the pot gets too dry, add some more butter. (This IS a French recipe, after all... so there's bound to be butter!!) Some of the flour will coat the bottom of the pot, that's okay, and it's okay to let it get to a nice brown color, but don't let it burn (aka turn really dark brown or black).  If it starts to brown too quickly, turn your heat down and take the pot off the heat for a moment. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, for another 3 minutes.

Take the bottle of wine and pour 1/2 to 2/3 of it into the pot.  This deglazes the pot, which means that the liquid releases all of the caramelized flavor goodness from the cooking process back into the dish. Scrape the bottom of the pot very well with your wooden spoon until all of the flour coating is loosened and incorporated into the stew.

Add your stew meat back into the pot.  Next, add the beef broth, tomato paste, garlic, thyme, and 3 shakes/dashes of Worcestershire sauce.  Stir well so that the tomato paste incorporates, then cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.

As this point, the hard works is done!  While the stew is simmering, sauté your mushrooms.  Tips on the perfect sauteéd mushrooms are here.  I like to do these in butter with S&P and a sprinkle of dried thyme, I also like to cook them down over low heat for quite a bit of time so that they get really nicely browned and delicious.

After the 30 minutes have passed, add the pearl onions and simmer covered for another 30 minutes.

Have a glass of wine (not required, but recommended).

Finally, add the mushrooms and peas, and simmer uncovered for 20-30 minutes.  Taste to make sure your seasoning is right, adjust if necessary.  Serve and enjoy!!

* I use dutch ovens ALL the time, I couldn't live without them. If you don't have one yet, I highly recommend getting one - click here to view my favorite. The 5/12 quart size is ideal, and cobalt is super pretty.

Beer Braised Chicken Stew with Baby Bellas & Fire Roasted Tomato

Now that's what I call stew!

I am in the midst of my full blown love affair with fall food, and tonight is the first night of the season that I made a nice slow cooked meal.  Stews are a wonderful way to make a big batch of food that's perfect for leftovers - in fact, oftentimes they taste even better the next day.

The one problem that I have with stews, is that too many people make pasty, ugly, grayish-brown stews.  Cornstarch thickeners, unidentifiable proteins & vegetables bits with gloppy sauce... no likey!  This is so easily avoided by using the right blend of veggies, and carefully cooking all of your ingredients in stages.  This might take a bit longer, but it is so worth it - each ingredient is cooked properly to bring out its best, and then added back in at the end. Below, you'll find a recipe that I made up tonight where the broth is a lovely orangeish-red brew of umami deliciousness, with tender chicken and a great blend of veggies who's flavors really sing.  I served it with toasted english muffins and a simply dressed green salad on the side.

Ingredients

• 3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into stew size pieces
• 8 baby bella mushrooms, sliced (each mushroom is slightly larger than a golf ball. If you can't find baby bellas, use your choice of mushroom - white button would be fine)
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 1 shallot, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 parsley stems, leaves removed and set aside. 
• 1 bottle of beer (I used Sam Adams Oktoberfest)
• 1 32 oz box of reduced sodium chicken broth
• Flour
• Paprika
• Dried Thyme
• Ground Nutmeg
• S&P
• EVOO
• Butter

Directions:  

In a large dutch oven, melt 2 T butter, and add enough EVOO to just cover the bottom of the pan.  Take your chicken pieces, and season with S&P and sprinkle with paprika, a bit of ground nutmeg, and 2 T of flour (the flour helps the broth thicken later on). Toss to coat.  Cook the pieces of chicken over medium high heat until golden, but not necessarily cooked through.  Make sure not to crowd the pan so that the meat browns and doesn't steam, so this will take a couple of batches.  Remove chicken, and set aside.

Add the sliced mushrooms to the pan and cook over medium heat until they release their liquid. Season with S&P, a generous sprinkle of dried thyme, and a small sprinkle of ground nutmeg.  Continue to cook until nicely browned and cooked down.  Remove, and set aside. 

If necessary, you can add a bit more EVOO & butter at this stage. Add your diced onion, season with S&P and cook over medium heat until completely translucent, and just starting to brown, approximately 5-7 minutes.  Add your shallots and garlic, and cook until translucent, approximately 3-5 minutes.  Add your sliced carrots.  Sauté over medium heat for another 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently.  

Add the beer, chicken broth, and the parsley stems. Scrape the bottom of the pan to release all of the caramelized cooking goodness.  Bring up to a low boil and then add the chicken and mushrooms back into the pot. Cook at a low boil for about 10 minutes so that the alcohol cooks out.  Remove the parsley stems, and add the can of tomato.  Turn temperature to low, cover, and cook for 20-30 minutes.  This is when all the flavors marry, and the beer does its job of tenderizing the chicken.  At this point, you can taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary. You can either serve now with a sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley on top, or continue to cook uncovered until it reduces to your liking.

What's your favorite kind of stew?