Recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon-Daring Cooks

I'll admit it.  When I first read through this month's Daring Cooks challenge, I thought "is all that really necessary for a beef stew?"  Well, maybe not necessary but definitely worth it-I'd say this is the best beef stew I've ever made!  Our May 2012 Daring Cooks' hostess was Fabi of fabsfood.  Fabi challenged us to make Boeuf Bourguignon, a classic French stew originating from the Burgundy region of France.


Oh, and did I mention it is a Julia Child's recipe, from Mastering the Art of French Cooking?



If you're interested, here's a link to Julia making this on You Tube, such a classic!
  
Yield: 6 hearty servings
Time: 5 hours


Ingredients:

• 6 ounces bacon
• Olive oil
• 3 pounds beef, cut into chunks for stew
• Salt and pepper
• 3 TBSP flour
• 3 cups red wine
• 1 large carrot, cut in to chunks
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 cups beef stock, plus 1/2-3/4 cup additional for onions
• 1 TBSP tomato paste
• 2 cloves garlic, mashed
• Fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf, crushed
• 3 TBSP butter
• 24 pearl onions
• 1 lb mushrooms, quartered

Method:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• Remove bacon rind (keep), cut bacon into lardons (sticks) and simmer both rind and bacon in 4 cups of water for 10 minutes.  
• Drain and dry well with paper towels.
• Dry the beef well with paper towels.
• In a Dutch oven or other oven proof container, heat the olive oil and saute the  lardons for 3 minutes until lightly brown; remove from oil.
• Saute beef in the same pan until browned; remove.
• Saute carrot and sliced onions in same pan for 5 minutes.
• Return lardons and beef to pan, season with salt and pepper, then toss all in the flour.
• Place pan in oven for 5 minutes to further brown meat (I really didn't see any difference so I'd skip this next time).
• Remove pan and stir in wine, 2 cups of stock, tomato paste, garlic, a handful of thyme leaves,  the bay leaf (crushed), and the blanched bacon rind.
• Bring to a simmer on the stove top, cover and place in oven.
• Turn oven down to 250 degrees and cook for 3 1/2-4 hours until meat is fall apart tender (check occasionally that stew is just gently simmering).
• While stew is cooking, saute the peeled pearl onions in 1 TBSP butter until brown then cover with stock and simmer for 20-25 minutes until most of liquid disappears.
• Saute mushrooms in remaining butter until browned and released liquid is reabsorbed.
• When meat is cooked, remove pan from oven and let sit for a few minutes.
• Skim off any fat (I had fairly lean meat, so there really wasn't anything to skim off).
• Stir in mushrooms and onions, taste for seasoning, and heat to bubbling.
• Serve with sprinkle of fresh thyme leaves.

Really a fantastic meal!  Thanks Fabi for reminding us of this classic dish.

Check out the Daring Cooks! 
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Recipe for Red Wine Braised Short Ribs

This was my first time, but not my last, cooking short ribs.  I don't know why I've stayed away.  Mr. ELEB loves them and I have enjoyed them at restaurants from time to time.  He has dropped subtle (actually, not so subtle) hints about having them at home. When I saw a recipe in October's Bon Appetit I decided to bite the bullet.  I found some nice looking short ribs at Whole Foods and served this at our Boxing Day get together along with olive oil mashed potatoes and roasted squash.  It was a lovely rustic meal and the ribs were so tender and flavorful.  You really can't mess this recipe up!

Yield: 8 servings
Time: 3 1/2 hours


Ingredients:

• 5 lb. bone in beef short ribs in approximately 2 inch pieces, trimmed of any big chunks of fat
• 3 TBSP canola oil
• 3 medium onions, chopped
• 3 medium carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 3 TBSP flour
• 1 TBSP tomato paste
• 750 ml (one bottle) Cabernet Sauvignon (or other red wine)
• 10 sprigs flat leaf parsley
• 9 sprigs thyme
• 2 springs rosemary
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 1 head of garlic, halved crosswise
• 4 cups beef broth
• Salt and pepper

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Salt and pepper the ribs liberally.
• Heat oil in Dutch oven over med-high heat.
• Cooking a few ribs at a time (don't crowd pot), brown on all sides. As browned, remove to a platter.
• When all ribs are browned and removed from pan, remove all but about 3 TBSP of the remaining oil/fat.
• Add veggies and cook until onions are browned, stirring frequently.
• Add flour and tomato paste and stir constantly for 2 minutes.
• Add wine and ribs with any juices that have released on to platter.
• Stir well and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes until wine has reduced by half.
• Add herbs, garlic and broth.
• Cover Dutch oven and place in oven.
• Cook until meat is separating from the bones, about 2-2 1/2 hours.
• Remove ribs to serving platter or bowl.
• Skim any fat from remaining sauce.
• Taste sauce and add any additional salt/pepper if needed.
• Pour sauce over ribs  (if in bowl) or serve separately in a gravy boat.

Short ribs are actually easy to cook using this method.  I won't be shying away from cooking them again and am looking for a good Asian short ribs recipe (please share in the comments if you have one).  Mr. ELEB says "tell them these ribs got the husband seal of approval."  So there you go!

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Original recipe

Recipe for Simply Baked Pasta-Secret Recipe Club

Mmmm.  Little pillows of ricotta cheese (no not mashed potatoes!) on top of whole grain pasta, sauce, pepper jack cheese, beef - what's not to like?  That's what I thought when I was browsing through Stacy's blog Every Little Thing and saw her "wing it" recipe for baked pasta.  She was in the midst of an exercise to eat on $60/week and threw this together based on what she had on hand.  Perfect-I do that a lot too, probably why I was drawn to this recipe.  It's Secret Recipe Club time!  

Stacy is a Social Worker who lives in Missouri and specializes in the areas of autism and developmental disabilities.   She has adapted a local, natural lifestyle and hopes to help others become closer to their community and our Earth.  Here's Stacy's recipe, with a few adaptations:


Yield: 6 servings
Time: 30 minutes


Ingredients: 

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 tsp ancho pepper powder
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 8 oz. multi grain rotini pasta, cooked al dente
• 2 oz. pepper jack cheese, grated
• 12 oz. part skim ricotta cheese
• 12 oz. marinara sauce
• Salt and pepper
• Cooking spray

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Brown the beef and onions together.
• Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray.
• Combine the beef/onion mixture with the other ingredients except ricotta in the casserole dish.
• Drop 6 dollops of ricotta on the top of the mixture.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly.  Serve with sprinkle of salt and pepper.

So simple and just the right level of heat for me.  If you like things really spicy, add more ancho pepper powder. This keeps well and reheats like a dream.  Check out Stacy's blog when you have a chance!  To see the other Secret Recipe Club participants, check out all the links below.

Original recipe

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Recipe for Beef Braised in Rooibos Tea with Sweet Potatoes - Daring Cooks

Do you enjoy a good challenge?  Me too, so I joined the Daring Kitchen-a group of hundreds of cooks around the world who come together each month to try something new in the kitchen.

Sarah from Simply Cooked was our November Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique! We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.

I chose to make the beef stew, made using Rooibos tea.  Now, I'd never tried Rooibos tea and had never cooked using tea so this was truly "something new in the kitchen" for me.

Rooibos tea is also called red tea and it is an herb indigenous to South Africa.  According to the information on the Numi tea box, it is rich in antioxidants and known for its calming effects. (not sponsored)

Here is the recipe which I followed to the letter (which is unusual for me but part of the challenge!)

Time: 2 1/2 hours

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 1¼ pounds stewing beef, trimmed and cut into 2-inch chunks
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 onions, sliced
• 2 celery stalks, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 5 rooibos tea bags
• 1 quart just-boiled water
• 5 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 4 strips unwaxed orange peel, pith removed (the peel of about half an orange)
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
• 4 small sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• ¾ cup mild honey (optional)
• cilantro (coriander) leaves, to garnish
• salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

• Season the beef and coat in the flour. 
• Heat the oil in a large stock pot and then brown the beef on all sides.
• Add the onions and celery. Put on a tight fitting lid and let soften for ten minutes. 
• Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook for one minute. 
• Meanwhile, place the tea bags in a heatproof pitcher and pour over the water. Allow to steep for four minutes. Then remove the tea bags and pour the tea into the stock pot. Add the red wine vinegar, orange peel, cinnamon sticks, and ginger. 
• Lower the heat and cover. Let the stew simmer for 2 hours, until the beef is tender. 
• Add the sweet potatoes, honey (if using), and season with salt and pepper. Cook for a further 30 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are soft. 
• Serve garnished with chopped cilantro.

The outcome?  REALLY good.  The only changes I would make when doing this again, is to reduce or omit the orange peel-it was slightly overpowering to us-and use chunks of sweet potato instead of slices.  But otherwise, it is a keeper recipe and I'd encourage you to also give this a try!

Share with us in the comment section if you have cooked with tea.

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Recipe for Slow Cooker Steak Sammies

Here's another good recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking.  I'm all in to quick and easy these days and this recipe hits all its marks.  Two ingredients in the slow cooker (plus salt and pepper); seven hours later-a flavorful, aromatic, tender pile of beef and peppers just waiting to be plopped on some healthy whole wheat buns with some provolone or pepper Jack cheese.  Yummy!

Time: 5 minutes prep; 7 hours on low in slow cooker
Yield: 8 servings


Ingredients:

• 2 pound chuck roast


• 1 jar (16 ounces) sliced peperoncini


• Salt and pepper


• Pepper Jack and provolone cheese slices


• Whole wheat buns

Method:

• Trim all visible fat from chuck roast.


• Liberally salt and pepper the roast.


• Place roast in slow cooker.


• Pour peperoncini (including liquid) over roast.


• Cook on low for 7 hours.


• Remove and shred meat and then stir back into liquid.


• Toast buns under broiler with a slice of cheese on one half of bun.


• Using a slotted spoon so most of the liquid drains off, place meat on toasted bun and serve.

Are you cooking anything fun in the slow cooker?


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From A Year of Slow Cooking