BEEF BOURGIGNON
This is a classic French recipe for one of the best meat cuts - the beef fillet. It is essentially beef in red wine sauce that is enriched by several other ingredients, like herbs, onions, bacon, mushrooms and tomatoes. There are several variants of this classic and you may as well experiment with making your own beef bourgignon recipe. Here, is one good bourgignon to enjoy.
4 servings:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
3 sprigs of thyme
100 g bacon, diced or sliced
100 g mushrooms, sliced
olive oil
4 beef fillets, either whole or in smaller pieces (for more "classic" look)
salt, pepper
a knob of butter
1 tbsp mustard
200 mL/7 fl oz good red wine
100 mL/3 fl oz chicken or beef stock
1 tbsp tomato purée or 2 chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp creme fraiche
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 bay leaf
(optional) 2 crushed juniper berries
The procedure is pretty straightforward and you will only be using one pan for this! Have a warm oven standing by on 60 C/140 F. In a pan (preferably non-stick) sauté the onions, carrot, garlic, thyme, and bacon on moderate heat for about 5 minutes in olive oil. Remove from the pan into a bowl, add more oil to the pan and then cook the mushrooms in it until they are lightly brown and still quite firm. Remove from the pan, add a little olive oil again and start browning the beef fillets that you have seasoned with salt and pepper. Cook them about 3 minutes on each side for medium rare (depending on the thickness, check with your finger for doneness) and add some butter at the end of cooking and bathe them in the fat. Remove from the pan, cover with some mustard and put into the warm oven.
Now it's time for the sauce. Deglaze the pan with red wine and cook until heavily reduced. Then add the stock along with all other ingredients and cook until reduced by half, or until you get a fairly thick sauce. Season with salt and pepper at the end. Remove from heat, add the bacon and vegetables that you've cooked before, then pour it over the beef on the serving plate. Pour the mushrooms over the beef as well. Serve with french beans or with rice.