Beef Bourguignon

I was chatting with a friend at work who is French and I told her I was planning to make a Beef Bourguignon today. Then we got stuck into discussions over which vegetables are added, when to add them, whether there is flour in the mix (or roux) and just kept talking about food over our glasses of wine.

My methods may not be entirely authentic and I believe this differs from the recipe I’ll be trialling next week at school but there’ll be no shortage of yummy food and maybe a few left over beef burgundy pies, (score!)

Serve with your choice of sides, buttery soft mash potato is all I require.

Time: approx 3 hrs,

Ingredients:

Butter,
Olive oil
Diced Chuck steak, I used two steaks (plus one for leftovers)
1 Onion diced,
Garlic clove, chopped
Celery 1/2 a handful (chopped)
1 Carrot cut into neat slices or (Paysanne as we like to call it at school)
1 cup of mushrooms roughly chopped.
Plain flour for the roux
1.5 cups Red wine, (I prefer a sweet red, like a Syrah)
1 cup of Stock (veg or light brown stock, either is fine)
Bay leaves & Thyme,
Salt and pepper to taste
Parsley to garnish

Cast iron crock pot, or frying pan and a suitable casserole dish

Method:

Sauté diced onion with drizzle of olive oil and a good knob of butter in a pan, I like to throw a pinch of salt in to stop the onions from colouring too much,

Throw in the celery next and stir to combine,

Add the beef and sear the meat,

Next come the carrots and garlic, again stir and cook down for a minute or so. If it becomes a little too dry you can add another knob of butter to the mix (I did)

Add a heaped tablespoon of flour to the pan, stir to combine. By this stage the base of the pan might stick but don’t add any water!

Now comes the wine, I used an empty ramekin and simply measured twice.

Stir into the mixture, the (flour and butter) will have coated the beef and a nice sauce will form with the red wine, next add the stock. Season with salt and pepper.

Switch off the heat and leave to rest for a moment.

Next I transfer the mixture to my porcelain casserole dish (of course if you used a cast iron crock pot, simply skip ahead)

Turn the oven on to 180C, or (356F)

Dress the top of the Bourguignon with some button mushrooms and the Bay leaves/Thyme and place on the bottom shelf of the oven with the lid on for the next couple of hours.