With the French national day, Bastille Day, on Sunday it was easy to select our weekend recipe. It’s the classic and beautiful Boeuf Bourguignon – the perfect meal for a winter’s night.
The first thing to say about it is that there are almost as many ways to cook this as there are people who will cook it. But the key is to cook it slowly on a low heat – the slower, the better. The recipe below is for about 2 hours cooking time, but it wouldn’t matter if you let it cook longer, or even let it settle overnight.
You will love this.
Ingredients
120g thick-sliced bacon
1kg boneless chuck steak, diced
1/3 cup flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter
4 fresh parsley stems (not the leaves)
4 fresh thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 750ml bottle dry red wine – if you can’t find Burgundy, try Pinot Noir, Zinfandel or a Shiraz
500g brown shallots (these look like small brown onions), peeled
500g button mushrooms
200ml beef stock
salt and pepper to taste
Method
1. Toss the beef in flour. Add to a hot large-sided saucepan with some oil and butter and brown. Note: If you don’t want to use butter, you can do this with the oil only but the butter helps brown it better and it tastes good. Make sure you brown well as this is important.
2. Remove the meat and add the mushrooms. When golden, remove and set aside.
3. Add the bacon and the brown shallots to the pan. When getting soft, return the beef to the pan along with the garlic, bay leaves, thyme, parsley stems, red wine and stock.
4. Gently add the tomato paste and stir.
5. Season with salt and pepper as required.
6. Simmer for a good 90 minutes until the meat is tender.
7. Add the mushrooms and continue cooking for a further 30 minutes.
Serve with chat potatoes and seasonal greens, such as broccolini or beans. Make sure you have some crusty French bread also to soak up the lovely sauce.
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