Beef Bourguignon

Tu aime le boeuf à la Bourguignonne? Oui? Moi aussi!

I've made beef bourguignon once before, and since we were at Disney World for Thanksgiving, we had my aunt over today and I made it again! Nothing better than family time and a yummy lunch. Well, bopping around the kitchen saying the word "beef bourguignon" with an accent is actually rather amusing as well.

I got the recipe from Ina Garten on Food Network, but adapted it a bit.

You will need:
-olive oil
-1/2 a pound of bacon (applewood smoked if you want to be fancy)
-a 2 1/2 pound chuck roast
-salt & pepper
-ghost pepper salt (if you haven't heard of it, check it out here, so delicious but not imperative)
-1 pound of carrots
-2 yellow onions
-3 cloves of garlic (or 1 1/2 tablespoons of minced garlic in a jar, we rarely have whole garlic)
-1 bottle of Merlot
-1 tablespoon of tomato paste
-1 can of beef broth
-1 teaspoon of dried thyme
-2 tablespoons of butter
-3 tablespoons of cornstarch
-1 pound of mushrooms
-a loaf of sour dough for serving

Are you scared of the ingredient list?

RAWR!

You will likely need a special trip to the grocery store unless you keep a fully stocked pantry/kitchen, but that's okay! This is such a great recipe so it's worth it.

First you whip out your dutch oven that is hiding behind all of your pots and pans in the cabinet. Apologize for the abandonment, and make a promise to be more friendly in the future. Preheat your oven to 250 degrees, please! Throw a bit of olive oil in the bottom and get it warming up while you cut your bacon. Just cut your bacon in quarter inch pieces and throw it in.

Let those piggies cook away (for around 10 minutes), and get started on your slab o' meat.

You'll want to cut it into 1 inch pieces, or bigger... I basically just cut it. So, CUT THE MEAT. By the time you're done with that, your bacon should be done as well. Remove your bacon from the pot, sans the grease, and put it on a plate.

Now throw in your beef!

Be sure to cook it in batches so that the pan isn't crowded and the meat can brown evenly. Once the meat is browned, it comes out of the pot to hang out with the bacon.

Once all of the meat has been browned, we cry.

Because we slice 2 onions.

And 1 pound of carrots.

All of your veggies want to be about the same size.

The onions and carrots, along with salt and pepper, hop into the bubbling bacon grease.

How cozy!

Cook this for about 10 minutes and add your 2 cloves (or the alternative) of garlic. Cut it tiny, please :) Save the remaining clove for the sour dough later.

Then throw in your mushrooms, the whole bottle of Merlot, and a can of beef broth. Don't forget to include the beef and bacon to the party!

Add the tomato paste, thyme, ghost pepper salt, and probably some more salt and pepper for fun.

Bring the pot to a simmer, lid your pot, and into the oven it goes for 1 hour!

When approximately 58 minutes have gone by, you'll want to think about moseying over to the fridge to get your 2 tablespoons of butter, and hit the pantry for 3 tablespoons of cornstarch. I just microwave the butter until it's a bit squishy, add the cornstarch, and smash the two together with a fork. Then take your pot out of the oven, and add in the cornstarch mixture. This will simmer on the stove for around 10 minutes.

In the mean time, slice up a loaf of sour dough, or be easy and buy pre-sliced bread, and throw it in the oven to crisp! This is where the lone garlic clove comes in handy. Once the bread comes out of the oven, it gets a generous garlic massage like so.

So very fragrant your bread will be!

Grab a bowl, ladle some deliciousness into it, bury a slice of bread, and dig in.

Enjoy :)