Boeuf Bourguignon

I have been waiting for days to make this, and I finally got the chance to do so! When I first saw Julie & Julia, in the scene where Julie makes this stew, I knew then and there that I had to make this dish. I am so glad I did! The smell cascaded through my house while it cooked, and my mother and grandmother loved it! I could taste the red wine in the sauce, the beef was tender, moist and delicious, and the onions were soft, smooth and cooked to perfection. Truly an amazing stew. Thank you, Julia!


Boeuf Bourguignon 
Adapted from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1

• 6-ounce chunk of bacon (I used bacon bits from my pantry since the bacon was too expensive)
• 9-10 inch fireproof casserole 3 inches deep
• 1 tb olive oil/cooking oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)
• slotted spoon
• 3 lbs. lean stewing beef cut into 2-inch cubes
• 1 sliced carrot
• 1 sliced onion
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 Tb flour
• 3 cups of a full-bodied, young red wine
• 2-3 cups brown beef stock or canned beef bouillon (I used beef stock)
• 1 tb tomato paste
• A crumbled bay leaf
• The blanched bacon rind
• 18-24 small white onions, brown braised in stock (see recipe)
• 1 lb. quartered fresh mushrooms sauteed in butter (I omitted these since my mother hates mushrooms)
• Parsley sprigs

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. 

Dry the beef with paper towels, or else it won't brown. Saute the beef in the oil a few pieces at a time, don't crowd them. I used two saute pans to cook the beef, since I didn't have enough room. Cook until browned on all sides, then add it to the casserole.

In the same fat, brown the onion and carrots. I added bacon bits to the oil. Pour out the fat.

Return the beef to the casserole and toss with salt and pepper, then add the flour and toss again to coat the beef. Place the casserole uncovered in the middle position of the oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat again and return to the oven for another 4 minutes. Remove the casserole and lower the oven to 325 degrees.

Stir in the wine and stock so the meat is barely covered, then add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs, and bacon rind. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove.

I used a red wine from the local winery here in Clermont :)

Cover the casserole and place in oven. Let it simmer slowly for 3 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easilly.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. I didn't include mushrooms as my mother dislikes them, but kept the pearl onions. In a skillet, heat 1 1/2 tb of oil and butter. Peel the onions and add them to the oil and roll them about so they brown as evenly as possible. Brown the onions for 10 minutes, then pour in 1/2 cup of beef stock, salt and pepper, and a bouquet of thyme, basil and a bay leaf. Cover and simmer slowly for 4-50 minutes.

When the meat is tender, add the pearl onions to the stew, and serve!

 

My mother baked some potatoes to go alongside the stew :)

Of cookbooks and tortilla chips

College life has been busy, and I haven’t done much cooking in a while, sadly. I did, however, discover that my campus’s library has a nice collection of cookbooks. So far I’ve checked out:

• Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook
• Julia Child and Jacques Pepin’s Cooking at Home
• Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything

I also went to Barnes & Noble and found one of Nigella Lawson’s cookbooks ten minutes before the store closed. Hurrah!

I’ve been learning so much from reading all these cookbooks and watching the Cooking Channel. I’ve also been watching documentaries on Julia Child (I love Netflix ever so much). The other night I was watching a clip of her making omelets, grabbed my copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and decided to give it a try at 8pm. I had never cooked nor eaten an omelet before, and, following Julia’s instructions, I successfully made my first omelet! I was a plain omelet with butter, but it was still delicious.

Speaking of Julia, for my literature class I had to do a presentation on my favorite author. I picked her for my presentation, and someone else in the class did his on the chef who wrote Momofuku! Everyone else in class but me and him did theirs on Dr. Seuss or some teen novelist. I was happy to see another person do a cookbook author! 

I decided on impulse the other night to make fried tortilla chips. I cooked a little batch and earned an eyebrow-raise from my mother (“Why are you playing with oil at 10pm?”), sprinkled them with salt and let my family taste them. They are so much better than store-bought tortilla chips, and fun to make. :)

Oh Julia.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1
I remember after watching Julie & Julia I wandered around Barnes & Noble and came across this amazing book. To this day I am still reading it, pouring over the delicious recipes (and reading it in Julia’s voice, it’s hard not to). I’ve been learning so much from her. The first recipe I tried from this book was scrambled eggs. It was my first time making and eating them too, and I was nervous, but in the end they were the most delicious scrambled eggs I had ever had in my life, and my mother loved them. Thank you Julia! <3