Harridge Post & Prospector

Roxie’s Recipes (for the Lazy Cook)

Unlike many of my recipes presented so far, this one is going to take a bit of time and pre-planning. Beef Bourguignon is best when the flavors have had the most chance to meld together. In fact, if you want, you can do everything but the final slow cooking the day before, allow everything to marinate in your refrigerator overnight, and then do the final hours of cooking the next day. Most people make it with pearl onions, but I find that diced yellow onions work just as well – in fact, I think I personally prefer it.

• 1 bottle of red wine, Pinot Noir or Burgundy
• ¼ cup cognac (I just buy a mini-bottle)
• 2-½ lbs stewing beef, cubed
• ½ lb bacon, diced
• 1 lb pearl onions, or 1 large whole yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 lb mushrooms
• 1 lb baby carrots or chopped carrots
• 1 cup celery, diced
• 2 cups beef stock
• 2 tbs tomato paste
• sprigs of rosemary & thyme
• salt & pepper to taste
• flour to coat beef

1. Preheat your oven to 325˚. Season the beef cubes with salt & pepper, then toss in a bowl with flour until evenly coated. Set aside.
2. Add a bit of olive oil to a large Dutch oven. Toss in the bacon and cook until crispy. Remove the bacon, but keep the drippings in your pan. Add the beef cubes and brown on all sides. Transfer the beef cubes to the plate with your bacon for now.
3. Next, brown the onion and garlic in the Dutch oven. Add your cognac and scrape the bottom of the Dutch oven to deglaze it. Add the mushrooms, carrots and celery and cook until slightly browned.
4. Transfer the beef and bacon back to your Dutch oven. Add the beef stock, tomato paste, and the wine and bring everything up to a simmer.
5. Using kitchen twine, tie the rosemary and twine together to make a “bouquet garni” and lay it on top of your stew. Transfer the Dutch oven from the stove to your oven, or if you choose, refrigerate and marinate overnight.
6. Cook for at least 2 hours. You can vary your oven temperature and cooking time if need be. The longer the flavors are allowed to meld, the better, so if you have time, drop the oven temperature slightly and lengthen the cooking time. I prefer to serve it with warm dark bread and a nice glass of Pinot Noir.

Now, Sunday at 9pm, tune your radio to KNVC 95.1 FM Carson City – or if you’re not in range, you can pull it up on their website: https://knvc.org. If you happen to miss it for some reason, they will re-air it next Friday at 8pm.

Need to catch up on previous episodes? Go to https://anchor.fm/harridgehouse or your favorite podcast provider to stream previous episodes from Season 1 and Season 2.