My mother died in 2019. I don’t like to remember the last years of her life and it has been difficult moving on from that. I do try to remember the good things. 

My mother taught me to be adventurous in the kitchen. Living overseas she became the queen of improvisation. She could find a substitute for (almost) anything. This was her signature dish for dinner parties.

Ragout of Beef

My mother 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. 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.

2 lbs round steak, cubed
3 Tablespoons butter
1/2 lb mushrooms
12 small whole onions (pearl)
6 carrots, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons 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 teaspoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon salt to taste, (remember you need less salt if using a bouillon cube)
1/4 teaspoon pepper (to taste)
1 Tablespoon flour

DIRECTIONS

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 and stock.
Cook in Dutch oven (big pot with a cover on top of the stove).
Simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours

Serve over rice or noodles (or potatoes, mashed potatoes?)

Serves 8