Sunday Night Dinner - Boeuf Bourguignon

That's really just a fancy name for Beef Stew with red wine. But that's just too easy to say right? I've been wanting to try Boeuf Bourguignon for quite a while, but I never had the right pot. So along came my birthday and Brent got me a beautiful Le Creuset dutch oven. I was so excited I decided to make Boeuf Bourguignon the next day. I went through a few of my cookbooks and online and then settled on a mix of Julia Child and Ina Garten. In the Barefoot Contessa's recipe, it calles for 1 pound frozen small whole onions. Now I just couldn't find those, and I'd looked in a few grocery stores, including the fancy pants Yaletown Urban Fare. So I decided to prep my own pearl onions. It does take some time, but these were really good. You can either do this first or while the stew is cooking.

Pearl onions for Boeuf Bourguignon
I used 24 pearl onions. First you blanche them in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain and rinse in cold water. Slice the tips off onions, peel and score the root end with 1/4 inch cuts. Sautee onions in a single layer in a tbsp or two of butter until lightly browned. Add stock or water halfway up sides of onions, add a dash of sugar and some salt and pepper. Cover and simmer slowly for 25 minutes or until tender. If there is liquid remaining, drain and then set onions aside.

Boeuf Bourguignon (adapted from Barefoot in Paris)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 8 ounces bacon, diced
- 2 1/2 lbs beef, cut into 1-inch cubes (the stuff I got was top sirloin cut into stewing beef)
- 1 lb carrots, sliced diagonally into 1-inch pieces
- 2 yellow onions, sliced
-2 cloves chopped garlic
- 1 (750ml) bottle good dry wine
- 2 cups beef broth (approximately)
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 4 tbsps unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided
- 3 tbsps flour
- 24 pearl onions, prepared (or 1 lb frozen)
- 1 lb mushrooms, stems discarded, caps thickly sliced

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Heat olive oil in large Dutch oven. Add bacon and cook over medium heat until lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Remove to a large plate with a slotted spoon.


Dry the beef cubes with paper towels and sprinkle with salt and pepper. In batches and in single layers, sear the beef all over for 3-5 minutes. Remove seared beef to plate with bacon.

Toss carrots, onions, salt and pepper into the pan and cook over medium heat until onions are lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Put the meat and bacon back into the pot with any juices that have collected. Add the wine plus enough beef broth to almost cover the beef. Add tomato paste and thyme. Bring to boil, cover pot and place in oven for 1 1/4 hours, or until meat and vegetables are very tender. Remove from oven and place on top of stove.

Combine 2 tbsps of butter and the flour with a fork and stir into the stew. Add the prepared onions. In a medium pan saute mushrooms in remaining 2 tbsps butter over medium heat about 10 minutes. Add to stew and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.

I served mine over mashed potatoes with bread on the side. So good!!!