Читать книгу Everyday Gourmet - William Maltese - Страница 6

IN A STEW AS TO WHAT TO COOK?

Just because three of my cookbooks, published by Wildside/Borgo Press, now include “gourmet” or “gourmand” in their titles (BACK OF THE BOAT GOURMET COOKING, EVEN GOURMANDS HAVE TO DIET, and EVERYDAY GOURMET: A MEMOIR, all written with Bonnie Clark), don’t be confused into thinking that I’m someone who continually indulges in only high-end dining. In point of fact, my definition of gourmet has always been, and remains, merely “good” food; a gourmand merely someone who enjoys the eating.

While I do prepare the likes of Beef Wellington, and filet steak, coated with pâté de foie gras and duxelles, all nicely wrapped up for presentation in puff pastry and baked, now I’m merely going to deal with a French peasant stew, despite it’s often intimidating name—boeuf bourguignon. I do so, because I’ve had the misfortune of spending my winter in the Pacific Northwest corner of the United States, where chilly weather has seen me, more often than not, seek consolation in a full-bodied and robust meal that can make me feel all warm inside and momentarily able to forget the bleak weather just outside the door.

The dish originated in the Burgundy (Bourgogne) region of what is today eastern France, and is prepared with beef braised in a red wine (traditionally red Burgundy); broth, more often than not, flavored with garlic. Often, pearl onions and mushrooms are added toward the end of the cooking.

Originally, the meat was provided with lardons (strips of fat) but modern beef is usually tender enough, and with enough natural marbling, to exclude this time consuming step; these days, cubed bacon produces the initial cooking fat and for adding at the end.

Beef Bourguignon (aka French Stew)

Preheat oven to 325°F

8 oz bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces

3 lb stew meat (or beef roast), cut into 1½-inch chunks

1 tsp salt

½ tsp fresh ground pepper

¼ c flour

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 c Burgundy wine

1 c beef stock

1 sprig of fresh thyme (or ½ tsp dried leaves)

4 large carrots cut into 1-inch slices

1 lb mushrooms, cut in half

2 TBS butter (or olive oil)

½ lb pearl onions, fresh peeled or frozen

To thicken, if needed:

2 TBS butter, softened

2 TBS flour

In a 6-quart Dutch oven, sauté the bacon over medium low heat, until brown and crisp. Set bacon aside. Discard all but 3 TBS of fat from pan.

Heat pan over medium high heat. Sprinkle stew meat with salt and pepper and some of the ¼ c flour. Toss lightly. Brown stew meat in the bacon fat in small batches until brown on all sides—do not over crowd. Remove browned stew meat and set aside.

To the vacated pan, add minced garlic and ALL that remains of the ¼ c flour. Cook for 30 seconds.

Turn pan to high heat. Deglaze the pan with the Burgundy wine for about 1 minute, scraping the bottom of the pan. Add the stew meat, bacon, stock, and thyme.

Cover and bake in oven for 2½ hours.

Add carrots.

Sauté the mushrooms in about 2 TBS butter (or olive oil), for about 7 minutes, until golden brown. Add mushrooms and pearl onions to pot.

If sauce needs thickening, use above “thickening” ingredients by—

Mashing with a fork the 2 TBS flour with the 2 TBS butter; removing Dutch oven from the oven; and whisking, a ½ tsp of the flour-butter mixture at a time, into the sauce, until blended.

Cover and continue cooking (about another 1 hour) until meat is fork-tender.

Makes about 10 servings.

NOTE: As the author of the WILLIAM MALTESE’S WINE TASTER’S DIARY series of books, I usually recommend accompanying this hearty meal with a nice red wine...in this case a 2002 BV Cabernet Sauvignon.