Throughout the winter season, I make a meaty stew a minimum of as soon as a month. Stews are wealthy and comforting. They're meant to be slow-cooked to tenderize powerful cuts of meat and to infuse the stew with the essence of the meat and aromatics.
One in all my go-to stews is a beef bourguignon, a traditional French stew hailing from the wine-rich area of Burgundy. It’s a scrumptious one-pot dinner good for a chilly night time or an apres-ski meal, and it’s assured to make your kitchen enticingly aromatic.
There are a number of key particulars to recollect when making the stew. Remember to brown the meat properly at first and use a good-quality pink wine that you'd fortunately drink. It doesn’t must be an expensive bottle, however it ought to actually be quaffable.
Ideally, begin the stew a day forward of serving (and even two). Not solely will the flavour enhance with time, however it permits the fats to rise to the highest when it cools, which is a nifty technique to do away with any additional unctuous fats. After an evening within the fridge, all it is advisable to do is raise off the solidified fats from the floor earlier than you reheat the stew, and you may be left with a silky, wealthy inventory.
I take a number of liberties in making the traditional French recipe, together with the addition of a beneficiant splash of cognac or Calvados (apple brandy) to deglaze the pan, and tomato paste to provide additional physique and fruitiness to the inventory. A spoonful of brown sugar is a remaining addition to spherical out the flavors of the stew.
Beef Bourguignon
Serves 6
STEW:
Further-virgin olive oil
2½ to three kilos beef chuck, extra fats trimmed, meat reduce into 1½- to 2-inch chunks
Kosher salt and freshly floor black pepper
1/2 cup cognac or Calvados
2 carrots, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
750-ml bottle full-bodied pink wine
1 cup beef or rooster inventory
4 thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
6-ounce can tomato paste
1 tablespoon brown sugar
VEGETABLES:
Olive oil
8 ounces cremini or white mushrooms, ends trimmed, halved or quartered if massive
Kosher salt
1 to 2 medium carrots, peeled, sliced 1/2-inch thick
8 ounces pearl onions, peeled (non-compulsory)
DIRECTIONS
Warmth the oven to 300 levels. Warmth 2 tablespoons olive oil in a big Dutch oven or ovenproof pot with a lid over medium-high warmth. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Working in batches, add the meat to the pan, with out overcrowding, and brown on all sides, 6 to eight minutes. Switch to a plate and repeat till all the meat is browned.
Add the cognac to the pot and deglaze, stirring up any brown bits. Scale back by half, after which pour the cognac over the reserved beef.
Add 1 tablespoon oil, the carrots, onion and garlic to the pot and saute over medium warmth till the greens soften with out browning, 3 to 4 minutes. Return the meat and cognac to the pot. Add the wine, inventory, thyme, bay leaves and tomato paste. The meat must be submerged within the inventory. Add extra inventory or wine if wanted.
Deliver to a boil, then flip off the warmth, cowl the pot and switch to the oven. Prepare dinner till the meat could be very tender, 2½ to three hours, stirring each hour or so.
Place a sieve over a big saucepan. Rigorously pour the stew into the sieve and pressure the liquid into the saucepan. Separate the chunks of meat from the greens and set the meat apart. Press down on the remaining greens within the sieve to extract as a lot juice into the drained liquid as potential and discard the mashed greens.
Boil the liquid till the sauce is decreased by about one-third and barely thickened, about 20 minutes, skimming the fats from the floor. Stir within the sugar and season to style with salt and pepper. Return the meat to the sauce. (Be aware: At this level, the stew could also be made one to 2 days prematurely. Cool, then cowl and refrigerate in a single day. One hour earlier than serving, take away from the fridge, discard any collected fats from the floor of the stew and put together the greens.)
Warmth 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium warmth. Add the mushrooms, flippantly season with salt, and saute till gentle golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Switch to a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon oil to the identical skillet, then add the carrots and onions and saute till brilliant in shade and crisp-tender, 4 to five minutes. Switch to the bowl with the mushrooms.
Add the greens to the stew and simmer over medium warmth to warmth by means of, 10 to fifteen minutes. Ladle the stew into heat bowls and serve.
Lynda Balslev is a San Francisco Bay Space cookbook creator, meals and journey author and recipe developer.