I am not always the greatest at shopping for gifts. Usually I like to give something somewhat practical (so I know that the recipient will actually use whatever I give them), with a touch of sentimental. When I declared that we had to put a spending cap on our Christmas gifts to each other, I left myself in a bit of a pickle. I had absolutely no idea what to get him within the budget specified.
At the last minute, I decided I was getting him a certificate to go to the indoor rock climbing gym, something he had mentioned he’d wanted to do…but I felt like that was cheating. In order to make up for it, I ended up digging up several recipes for Boeuf Bourgignon, a dish that he has wanted me to learn how to make, but I’ve always been a little (okay, a lot) intimidated by.
Everyone said I should cook the Julia Child version. I watched a morning special featuring Eric Ripert from NYC’s Le Bernardin. I read the entire Thomas Keller recipe (holy smokes, that man is insane) and decided, um, no. And then I watched the No Reservations Techniques Special with Anthony Bourdain, doing a step by step instruction of Boeuf Bourgignon. So I mixed all the recipes up and came up with this. I’m not going to list the recipe here, but the basic structure is depicted in the following photos.
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| Start with about 3 lbs. (1.5 kg) of beef chuck, cubed |
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| pick a red wine |
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| a basic mirepoix (in big chunks) + beef + wine, marinate for at least 3 hrs. |
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| bouquet garni: thyme, cloves, peppercorns, bay leaves, and parsley |
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| drain the marinated beef (reserve marinade) |
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| separate out the veggies |
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| brown the beef in bacon fat (not shown: brown some bacon first) |
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| add the veggies, wine, and bouquet garni and simmer for hours |
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| optional: braise some peeled pearl onions (not shown: and mushrooms if you like) |
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| serve your stew on a bed of mashed potatoes, topped with onions and mushrooms, and garnish with parsley |
There you have it. SO much easier than I ever imagined it would be. It made the house smell absolutely divine, and Jules really liked it. (I made quite a bit so he ended up happily eating the stew for three days.) One more French classic under my belt, and all was well for our Christmas Eve.
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