Introducing Food Friday!!  Let’s eat our way around the world!   I plan to post a new recipe every Friday.  Come back often!

My mother used to make this a lot when I was growing up.  She was always entertaining and sometimes the crowd was big.  This recipe is scalable and delicious.  It has French origins and is also known as bœuf bourguignon.  You might have seen the movie or read the book “Julie & Julia” and thought the dish was complex.  It is not.  It is basically beef stew in wine sauce.  In The Art Of French Cooking, Julia Child’s book, the recipe has a few more steps, cooks for longer, and uses oil and bacon instead of butter but it is basically the same thing.

Give it a try!

Ragout of Beef

2 lbs round steak, cubed

3 Tbsp butter

½ lb mushrooms

12 small whole onions (pearl)

6 carrots, sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 tbsp chopped parsley

1 quart red wine  (this is about a glass more than a bottle)  The wine should be drinkable and full bodied.

1 cup stock (as needed – you want the liquid to cover everything,  I make 1/2 a bouillon cube with a cup of water but don’t always use it all)

1 tsp tomato paste

1/2 tsp salt   (to taste, remember you need less salt if using a bouillion cube)

1/4 tsp pepper (to taste)

1 Tbsp flour

Brown steak in butter and remove from pan

Brown vegetables in the same pan and return meat to pan

Add garlic, tomato paste, flour, parsley, salt and pepper, mix well and let cook a few minutes until flour starts to brown (4-5 minutes)

Add wine & stock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cook in Dutch oven (big pot with a cover on top of the stove)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simmer for 1.5 to 2 hrs

Serve over rice or noodles (or potatoes)

Serves 8

 

Let me know what you think!