Tag: frenchfood

Beef Bourguignon

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A classic of the French bistro menu. It’s the food your grandmere would make. Some recipes are very complicated, but if you strip it down to the essential elements, it’s manageable. 

A pot of beef stew featuring chunks of tender beef, orange baby carrots, and whole mushrooms cooked in a rich red wine sauce.

I like Julia Child’s classic recipe, but wanted to streamline it. This is a very good adaptation. I used to make it without adding the mushrooms and pearl onions later, but it really does taste better with that extra step as it really layers the flavor.

Ingredients 

4- 5 lbs Beef Chuck cubed

1 bottle Red Wine, Pinot Noir is ideal. 

2 Tbsp Oil

1/3 lb Bacon, pancetta or pork belly.

1 Onion, sliced

2 cups Baby Carrots 

2 cloves Garlic, smashed

1 Shallot, sliced

Salt and Pepper 

2 Tbsp Flour

1 Tbsp Tomato Paste

2 tsp Thyme, dried. 

2 Bay leaf

1 1/2 cups Pearl Onions, peeled, left whole 

4 cups Mushrooms, left whole if small. 

Preparation:

Prep your meat and pour in your bottle of wine and allow to marinade 8 hours up to overnight. Drain the meat, pat the meat dry, reserving the wine. 

Blanch the bacon or pork belly in simmering water for 15 minutes, drain, remove and pat dry. This is only really necessary if the bacon is smoked. Using pancetta will eliminate this step. 

Heat the oil and render down the bacon and remove from the pan with a slotted spoon.

Preheat oven to 325F/163C. Salt and pepper the beef cubes and sear on all sides and remove from the pan and set aside. 

Add in the sliced onions, baby carrots, garlic, shallots and cook until slightly softened. Add in the flour and stir until incorporated and it takes on a slightly golden color. You want it to lose its rawness. 

Then add bay leaves, thyme, tomato paste and the retained red wine. Stir and incorporate and then add back the beef and bacon. Cook covered in the oven, for 3 hours. 

A pot of beef stew with chunks of beef, diced onions, and a rich red wine sauce.

After 3 hours sauté the mushrooms and pearl onions in a tablespoon of butter, until they begin to caramelize, then remove the beef from the oven and add them into the pot and continue cooking uncovered for another hour.

A pot of beef stew with chunks of beef, mushrooms, and baby carrots simmering in rich brown sauce.

Serve with potatoes, French fries or noodles. 

Basic Quiche/Tart Recipe

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This is a basic recipe that has so many variations. It really can be so many different things. I find it’s handy to use up the bits you have in the fridge. 

I’ve made it with leafy vegetables, leeks, onions, smoked salmon, ham, bacon, and all sorts of other vegetables and many different cheeses.

Ingredients:

1 Piecrust, either home made or store bought. Not deep dish. 
1- 3/4 cup chopped filling of choice. Meat, seafood or veggies. 
4 Eggs
1 cup Heavy Cream, or Whipping Cream or Half and Half
5 oz of Roquefort, Gruyère , goat or other cheese, cubed into ½ inch pieces 
Salt and pepper to taste
Parchment Paper
Dried beans, approx 2 cups
1 Tbsp fresh chives, chopped

Preparation:
Begin by blind baking the crust. Preheat the oven to 375F/190C degrees, use a fork to gently prick the crust on the bottom and on the sides.

Cut a piece of parchment paper so it overlaps the crust slightly and lay it onto the unbaked crust, and fill with dried beans. Push them so you have more beans on the sides and less in the middle. Then bake for 10-15 minutes.

After baking, remove the crust and lift off the parchment paper and beans. The beans will be hot, so handle with care.

Drop the oven down to 350°F/176C and prepare your filling by beating your eggs and gently incorporating the cream. Add your salt and pepper, remembering that depending on the cheese, it can already be quite salty. 

Put your cheese and filling of choice into your pie crust and gently pour the egg and cream mixture over the top and bake until the tart doesn’t wobble when gently shaken. That’s usually about 30 to 40 minutes. This is what it looks like when its ready.

Remove and allow to cool.

Chicken Fricasse, Poulet a’ l’Ancienne

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Another French classic which has many variations. This is the kind of food French grandmere’s have perfected over generations. It’s a bit of a cross between a sauté and a stew, but the real key is the braising sauce.

It utilizes that workhorse of the French kitchen, the mirepoix. A mix of onions, carrots and celery. Gently sautéed in butter and a bit of oil, it’s magical.

I’d suggest that the classic recipe for fricassee is from Julia Child. I’ve made her version and it is very good, but very involved. This modified version from Martha Stewart is excellent and vastly easier to prepare. I’ve changed it a bit, but essentially the same.

Both recipes call for a whole chicken cut up, but I find the consistency of the boneless skinless thighs work very well, feel free to use either.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lbs Chicken Thighs, boneless skinless. Trimmed of excess fat.

4 Tbsp Butter

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Carrot, minced

1 Onion, minced

1 Celery stalk, minced

2 cups Mushrooms, quartered

2 Tbsp Flour

1/2 cup White wine

2 cups Vegetable or Chicken Broth

1/2 Tbsp Thyme

1- Bay Leaf

2 Egg Yolks

1/2 cup Heavy Cream

1/2 Lemon, juiced

Preparation:

Preheat your oven to 350F. Heat your butter and oil in your oven proof Dutch oven and begin by lightly browning the chicken on both sides. Brown only a few pieces at a time, or they will steam rather than brown. Remove and set aside.

Add your mirepoix(onion,carrot and celery) into the pan and gently sauté as you scrape away any browned bits. These are packed with flavor.

Add your mushrooms and sauté until they give up their water. Add your flour and stir until the mixture starts to thicken. You are basically making a roux, to thicken the fricassee.

Add in your wine and cook until it reduces and begins to thicken. Add your broth and simmer gently. Then, add your thyme and bay leaf.

Put the chicken into the Dutch oven and gently stir to coat the chicken and into the oven uncovered for 40 minutes.

Just before the chicken is done, whisk together your egg yolks and heavy cream.

Remove the chicken from the oven and carefully add a few tablespoons of the sauce to the egg yolk/cream mixture, one at a time to temper it and then fold the mixture into the chicken to finish the sauce. Give it about one minute to thicken. Finish with lemon juice.