Dinner

This is what we made for dinner this week.  It's a cut-in-half , no-mushrooms version of this, and is quite good.

Beef Bourguignon Three Day Recipe

2 pounds good quality stew meat, cut into 2 inch cubes	½ pound of lardons (thick bacon cut into rectangles)
1 bottle of Burgundy red wine	2 carrots
1 medium onion	10 or so small white (Pearl) onions
2 bay leaves	1 teaspoon of tomato paste
1 bouquet garni	3 cloves of garlic
Olive oil	2 squares of really dark (bitter) chocolate (80 % cocoa or more)
2 tablespoons of flour	salt, pepper

Day 1

1.       In a large pot, pour the wine

2.       Add the carrots cut into large pieces, the medium size onions roughly cut, the bay leafs, the peeled garlic cloves and the bouquet garni.

3.       Bring everything to a boil for about 10 minutes.

4.       Let it cool down to room temperature and put it in the fridge for 1 or 2 hours until cold.

5.       If needed, cut the meat into large chunks  and trim the excess fat.

6.       Once the marinade is cool, pour it over the meat into a non reactive dish/pan, cover and put in the fridge overnight (minimum 8 hours).

Day 2

1.       Take the marinade and meat out of the fridge.

2.       Take all the meat pieces out and using paper towels, make sure they are as dry as you can.

3.       Set aside the marinade.

4.       Leave the meat out for 30 minutes so that it comes back to room temperature

5.       Put your oil in a thick skillet and heat.

6.       When the oil is really hot, sear the pieces of meat 5 or 6 at a time to make sure you don’t crowd the pan. Try to get as much of a crust onto the meat as possible.

7.       Add pepper and salt to the meat only right after you dropped it in the pan

8.       Put aside.

9.       When beef is done, discard any remaining oil from the pan and put in the ‘lardons’ (bacon) on high heat. Stir so that they get a nice color then take them out of the pan and put them with the meat.

10.   Lower the heat to a medium fire under the pan

11.   Strain all the solids from the marinade (keep the bay leaf and bouquet garni aside) and put them into the pan.

12.   Cook for 5 or 7 minutes until you start seeing some color, make sure you scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the nice bacon and meat bits that stuck.

13.   Sprinkle the flour and mix it in so that it doesn’t lump up.  

14.   Add salt and pepper.

15.   Put the wine back into the pan and add the meat, bacon, bay leaves, bouquet garni and tomato paste. Cover and let it cook slowly.

16.   In the mean time, peel the Pearl onions

17.   Roast Pearl onions slowly in a pan with a bit of olive oil. You are looking to get some color but to also cook the onions through (don’t overcook them, since they’ll cook some more in the bourguignon and then need to hold their shape, yet be tender). Do the same with the mushrooms, if included.

18.   After about 1 hour of cooking, incorporate the onions and mushrooms with the rest of the bourguignon and check the seasoning and adjust if needed

19.   At this point, add the squares of dark chocolate.

20.   Cook gently for another 30 minutes and turn the heat off.

21.   Let it sit a few hours until it’s cool enough to put in the fridge overnight.

Day 3

1.       Take the dish out of the fridge and using a spoon, remove as much as the fat from the top as you can.

2.       Turn your oven to 180C  (about 360F).

3.       When the oven is hot, put the Boeuf Bourguignon in a covered oven safe serving dish

4.       Reheat for 20 minutes