| What you need:-
2 oz vegetable fat
4 oz rindless streaky bacon, diced (try to buy it in one piece)
8 oz small onions
1&1/2 lbs lean stewing or braising steak
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
1 oz plain flour
1/2 pint full bodied red wine (Burgundy or Burgoyne)
1/4 pint beef stock
2 teaspoons tomato puree
1 bouquet garni
6 oz mushrooms, halved
chopped parsley (to garnish)
*optional extra - small measure of brandy
What you do:-
Preheat oven to 325 f. Fry bacon and onions in veg fat until golden, remove
from pan. Fry meat until brown (*optional extra at this point, add brandy &
flambee meat for a few seconds*) Add garlic and flour, fry for 2 mins. Put
onions & bacon back in, add tomato puree, stock and wine, bring up to boil,
add bouquet garni, cover and cook in the oven for 1&1/2 hours. Add mushrooms
and cook for at least 30 mins more (longer if you can). Remove bouquet garni
and serve with rice or noodles with the parsley spinkled over and a glass or
two of wine on the side.
This will serve more than 2 but the extra freezes well.
Roland
ps - if you don't use the brandy you can always drink it......
|
| Boeuf Bourguignon
3 lbs trimmed boneles beef chuck, cut into 1 1/2 to 2 inch cubes
2 tbsps usalted butter
2 tbsps vegetable oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 small carrot chopped
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup Cognac
3 cups red Burgundy or other dry red wine
1 1/2 cups beef stock or diluted canned broth
2 medium shallots, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
Bouquet garni: 4 sprigs parsley, l bay leaf and l halved celery
rib tied with white kitchen string
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 ts freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp thyme
12 to 16 small red potatoes, peeled
1 pound smoked slab bacon, thickly sliced and cut into 1/2 inch
strips (lardons)
3/4 lb mushrooms, quartered
24 small white boilin onions, about 1 inch in diameter, peeled
Chopped parsley, for garnish
Pat the beef dry. In a flameproof casserole, melt the butter in
the oil over high heat. Add half of the beef cubes and saute, turning
until browned all over, about 7 minutes. With a slotted spoon,
set the meat aside and repeat with the remaining cubes. Add the
chopped onion and carrot and reduce the heat to moderate. Cook until
the vegetables are lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Return all
the browned meat to the casserole.
Sprinkle the flour over the meat and vegetables and cook, stirring
occasionally, until evenly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the Cognac
and ignite with a match. When teh flames subside, add the wine
stock, shallots, garlic, tomato paste, bouquet garni, salt, pepper
and thyme to the casserole. Cover, reduce the heat to moderately
low and simmer, skimming occasionally, for 2 hours.
Meanwhile , in a large saucepan of boiling salted water, cook the
potatoes until tender, about 20 minutes; drain. In a medium saucepan
of boiling water, cook the white onions until tender, 5 to 7 minutes,
depending on size; drain well.
Put the bacon in another saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring
to a boil, drain and rinse under cold water. Repeat if the bacon
is very salty or smoky. Drain well and pat dry. In a large skillet,
cook the lardons over moderate heat until browned and crisp on the
outside, yet still soft on the inside, about 5 minutes. Drain on
paper towels.
Pour off all but 2 tbsps of the bacon fat from the skillet. Add
the mushrooms and saute over high heat, tossing until browned, 3
to 5 minutes. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.
With a slotted spoon, remove and set aside. Add the whit onions
and saute over moderately high heat until browned about 5 minutes.
When the beef is tender, use a skimmer or slotted spoon to transfer
it to a flameproof serving dish or casserole. Add the potatoes,
onions, mushrooms and lardons. Skim any fat off the sauce and season
witha dditional salt and pepper to taste. Strain the sauce over
the meat and vegetables. The recipe can be made up to 2 days ahead.
(
(Cover and refrigerate.)
Before serving, rehet the ragout and simmer for 5 minutes to blend the
flavors. Garnish with chopped parsley.
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