Prep Day #21 – Beef Bourguignon

Oh my, I wish you could smell my Kitchen right now! This Beef Bourguignon simmered in the oven for almost 4 hours. This type of meal is the reason why my Son looks forward to going back to school. Why? It makes a great left over in lunches

What I like about making a Beef Bourguignon is that it is versatile. You can make it and eat it right away. It makes a very nice meal to serve when receiving guests. It is perfect for lunches. It also makes a weekday meal easy… simply heat up and serve with mash potatoes, egg noodles or rice. Also, you can make a large batch and eat more than once, which makes it on the long run, not too expensive.

In order to make this, you will need:

3 Lbs of Stewing Beef
1 large onion
1 large carrot chopped
2 garlic cloves (1 tsp if using pre-chopped)
2 cups of red wine
1 cup of beef stock
2 Tbsp of sugar free Ketchup (you can use regular)
3 Tbsp of Flour
2 Bay leaves
1 tsp of dry Thyme
1 Tbsp of Parsley
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Before you ask, yes, I like to put a carrot in my Beef Bourguignon. If I would add some potatoes and other veggies, then I would call it a Beef Stew (BTW, I use the same recipe base for my Beef Stew). You can also add some mushrooms. I didn’t put any for 2 reasons: 1) my Son hates them & 2) I didn’t have any on hand.

Now, if we get down to important stuff: first, preheat your oven to 400 F. Make sure you dry off your meat. This will help to sear it better. Once your meat is dried off, sprinkle 2 Tbsp of flour of all over your meat.

Heat some olive oil in a large skillet. When the oil is hot, sear your flour covered meat… do not over cook!

Once you have seared your meat, transfer it to a dutch oven or a roaster. Using the same pan, throw in your chopped onion and carrots. Stir your veggies making sure you scrape off all the flour left over in the bottom of the pan.

When the onions are translucent, transfer to your dutch oven. Sprinkle your remaining Tbsp of flour and mix well. This will help to thicken the broth as it cooks.

Put in the meat and veggies mixture in the oven for 10 minutes, uncovered. This will help to heat up your dutch oven and will help the meat protein to tenderize. When your 10 minutes are up, remove from the oven and lower temperature of the oven to 350 F. Add of your remaining ingredients and mix well. Insure you put cover on for the remainder of cooking time.

Let this cook down at 350 F for 3 1/2 hours. Once you are at the half way point, take a few minutes to stir everything. This will help the thickening process.

Once time is up, remove from oven and remove cover. Let is sit for 15 to 20 minutes before serving.