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.
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.
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.
Serve with potatoes, French fries or noodles.
The Louisville Chef 