French Cooking 101 - Beef Bourguignon

This is the first installment of a series of classic French recipes that I want to try.  Usually my recipes are quick and simple but this little adventure may take me to some recipes that are more difficult.  I decided to start out with the iconic Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon.  Of course I did make some changes to suit my preferences.  This became a wonderful beef stew that I would definitely try again but it didn't live up to the high expectations I had put on it to be the best thing I would ever put in my mouth. 

Beef Bourguignon

6 slices of thick cut bacon, cut into strips
3T olive oil
3 lbs lean beef, cubed into 2 inch pieces (I used a round roast)
1/2 c sliced carrots
1 sm onion sliced
salt and pepper
2T flour
3c red wine
3c beef broth
1T tomato paste
2t chopped garlic
1/2t thyme
1 bay leaf
3T butter
1lb quartered cremini mushrooms
Rice or noodles

Saute bacon in oil in large dutch oven.  Remove bacon from oil once crisp and save.  Pat meat dry with paper towels and brown in batches in oil and bacon drippings and set aside with bacon.  Brown the vegetables in the oil.  Return the meat to the pot and toss with salt, pepper, and flour.  Without lid on pot,  place in oven at 450 for 5 mins.  Toss meat and return to oven for another 4 mins.  Reduce oven heat to 325. Remove pot from oven and stir in wine and enough broth to just cover the meat.  Add tomato paste, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf.  Bring to a simmer on stove top, cover return to oven at 325.  Simmer pot in oven 3-4 hrs until meat is very tender.  Saute mushrooms in butter and add to pot before serving.  Serve over rice or noodles.

Oven Round Roast

This roast will forever be the Rachel Ray roast to me.  I was fortunate to get to visit her show on a recent trip to NYC and this was the recipe that she did.  I have always done chuck roasts in the crockpot and was very unfamiliar with other cuts used for roasts.  By the way, a chuck roast + cream of mushroom soup + carrots, onions, & potatoes in a crockpot for 8 hrs will probably always be my favorite roast beef dinner but I'm always game for trying something different.

I will say that a round roast is a more expensive cut of meat but it is much leaner than chuck and we ate 3 meals plus some on about a 3lb roast.  So you do get your money's worth out of it for sure!  This again is more of a technique than a recipe that I learned so you can change up the seasonings and veggies to your liking.  This produces a medium rare roast so if pink meat is not your thing, stick to chuck roast in the crockpot.  Like I said, it is a very lean roast so if it isn't pink it will be grey and dry out of the oven.  But you could cook your roast this way and then once it is sliced use it in recipes where you cook it a second time.  We sliced up our leftover meat, sauteed it with onions and created some awesome steak sandwiches.  Then what I still had leftover I cubed and created a great chili.  So the meat was cooked again and not tough at all.

Here is Rachel Ray's original recipe that includes a tomato gravy too.  It pretty much creates a gravy with the pan drippings plus some tomato paste.  She recommended serving it with gnocchi.  Gnocchi are potato dumplings, an Italian staple, and they are readily available in vacuum sealed pouches in the pasta aisle.  I like them and think they are a nice switch from the typical potato or rice side dish.  They are bland so you definitely have to top them with something.  Enjoy!

Oven Round Roast

3-4 lb round roast
olive oil
steak seasoning (I used the Montreal steak rub)
1 onion quartered
1c chopped carrots

The roast needs to be at room temp.  Preheat your oven to 500 or 550 if it will get that hot.  Rub the roast with the oil and cover with the seasoning.  In a roasting pan, create a bed of the onion quarters and carrots for the roast to sit on.  Place the roast in the oven for 30 mins.  Turn off the oven but DO NOT open the door for 2 hrs.  Slice and serve.

Texas Red Chili

I have been wanting to make real Texas chili for a long time.   Texas chili is a no beans, cubed beef style chili.  I decided on a great looking recipe I found in my mom's Martha Stewarrt magazine.  A little intimidating because you don't use chili powder but rather dried chiles that you toast and then soak to make a chile paste.  But once I didn't it I was suprised how easy it was.  Not as easy as opening a packet but worth the flavor difference for sure!  A little cheese and sour cream on top, some fritos, and Auburn football on tv....nice!  Hope you'll give it a try.

By the way, sorry for the picture.  I forgot to take a picture of my pretty little bowl of chili before I devoured it!  So you got a picture of the pot halfway cleaned out instead!

Texas Red Chili

8 whole dried ancho chiles (I found mine in the produce section of Wal-Mart)
3T oil
3lbs chuck trimmed and cubed into 1/2 inch pieces
2 onions chopped
5T minced garlic (that's alot I know!)
2 jalepenos minced (remove seeds and white membrane for less heat)
2 1/2 t cumin
1 1/2 t oregano
28oz can whole tomatoes
4 c water


Toast dried chiles in skillet or under the broiler for about 2 mins on each side.  Remove stems and seeds and cover the chiles with hot water for about 30 mins until soft.  While chiles are soaking, heat oil over med-high heat in a large dutch oven and season meat with salt and pepper.  Brown meat in batches and set aside.  Add additional oil, if needed, and saute onions, garlic, and jalepenos until soft.  Meanwhile, place soaked chiles and about 1/2 c of soaking liquid into blender.  Puree until smooth.  To the pot, add cumin and oregano and cook about 1 min.  Add beef and chile puree to pot.  Blend tomatoes in blender and add to pot along with water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer gently with the lid partially covering the pot for 2-3 hrs.

Cabbage Beef Soup

I'm posting my first recipe!!

This is a great soup recipe that my coworker Nancy developed. It was a hit with my husband and two boys. It is a great way to use up some extra cabbage and is very filling. We love soups and stews (even in July!) so I'm always eager to try a new one.

Normally cabbage isn't anything that I get very excited about but maybe now I will! It was great with mexican cornbread. Yum! Thanks Nancy!

Cabbage Beef Soup

1/2 head of cabbage, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 lb. ground chuck, browned and drained
1 can kidney beans (I used light red)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can condensed tomato soup
salt and pepper

Saute the cabbage and onion in the pot after browning your ground beef. Add a little water to help steam the cabbage and cook just until the cabbage is tender. Add a little salt and pepper at this step. Add the beef, beans, tomatoes, soup, and 1/2 or 1 can of water to the pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-20 mins. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.