Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Hiatus is over! I bring you BEEF!


Phew!  It's been 2 1/2 months since my last post and I apologize for the hiatus!  Since my last post, our baby girl was born May 9th and we've moved into a new house!  My time has gone to taking care of a newborn, trying to get us all unpacked and settled into our new place, and of course taking care of the family and a bit of schooling as well.  It's definitely been an adjustment period with a third kid and getting used to our new home, but it's been great!  Tiring, but great.  :)

Today's recipe is something that I've been craving lately since I've been nursing.  Not sure if it's because I'm lacking something in my diet, but man oh man, have I been craving beef.  Burgers, steaks, stews, you name it.  I see a commercial or drive by a place that has beef on the menu and the crave begins.  If you don't eat beef, I am truly sorry because it is just so good!

Picture from Miss Information's blog! Looks delicious, right?


Love Julia Child but don't have the time for her recipes?  This was the inspiration behind Miss Information's slow cooker version of her Boeuf Bourguignon.  I've never attempted the recipe from scratch before, so I didn't quite know what to expect from the slow cooker version.  If you've seen the pin, you probably clicked on it and saw that it links you to My Recipe Magic, which then asks you to click on another link to go to Miss Information's blog.  I fixed the link on my pin board to go directly to the recipe on her site.  Why the extra step, right?

Here are the ingredients and directions for slow cooker boeuf bourguignon:

Ingredients:
4 lbs boneless beef chuck roast trimmed and cut into 1 1/2” cubes (have the butcher do it for you)
6 slices of bacon minced then cooked
3/4 bag of frozen onion
10 baby carrots cut into small pieces or 1 medium carrot
1/4 cup of tomato paste or a 8oz can of reduced can of tomato sauce
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon dry thyme
1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 cups Pinot Noir
2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons butter
1 package of frozen pearl onions
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons sugar
2 cartons of baby bella mushrooms cut into quarters

Season the beef with Salt and Pepper and put it in your slow cooker. Cook bacon in a skillet until crisp and drain. Put your diced onions in the skillet with the carrot’s, tomato paste, garlic and thyme till onions are unfrozen and soft. Put in your flour and stir for 1 minute to get the flour taste out of it. Stir in 1 cup of wine and get all the bacon bits off the bottom of the pan. Pour into the crock-pot. (You are now wondering how am I going to fit the rest in this slow cooker, don’t worry it will cook down enough to add the other stuff later) Pour in broth, soy sauce and bay leaves. Cover and cook for 9-10 hours on low.

About 30 minutes before it’s done put your pearl onions, water, butter and sugar in a pan and sauté until the onions are soft, throw in 1 cup of wine and reduce. Throw in the mushrooms and sauté about 10 minutes. Throw it all in the slow cooker and let it cook for about 15 more minutes.
Serve over mashed potatoes with a nice glass of wine and you will be happy happy!


Right of the bat, I didn't know that they sold onions frozen!  Since we keep lots of onions on hand at home, we decided to use fresh onions in the slow cooker but still use a bag of frozen pearl onions.  Well, the commissary and Wally World did not have frozen pearl onions so I picked up a bag of fresh pearl onions.  If you were like me and never cooked with them before, don't fret because they're simple to cook with!

I bought my 4lbs of boneless chuck roast whole and had to cube it myself.  When we cook with meat, we don't trim all of the fat off because it helps with flavor.  This is how much it filled up my 6 qt crock pot:

 
Ingredients: 4 lbs boneless beef chuck roast trimmed and cut into 1 1/2” cubes (have the butcher do it for you) 6 slices of bacon minced then cooked 3/4 bag of frozen onion 10 baby carrots cut into small pieces or 1 medium carrot 1/4 cup of tomato paste or a 8oz can of reduced can of tomato sauce 3 tablespoons minced garlic 1 teaspoon dry thyme 1/3 cup all purpose flour 2 cups Pinot Noir 2 cups low-sodium chicken stock 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce 2 bay leaves 2 tablespoons butter 1 package of frozen pearl onions 1/2 cup water 2 teaspoons sugar 2 cartons of baby bella mushrooms cut into quarters Season the beef with Salt and Pepper and put it in your slow cooker. Cook bacon in a skillet until crisp and drain. Put your diced onions in the skillet with the carrot’s, tomato paste, garlic and thyme till onions are unfrozen and soft. Put in your flour and stir for 1 minute to get the flour taste out of it. Stir in 1 cup of wine and get all the bacon bits off the bottom of the pan. Pour into the crock-pot. (You are now wondering how am I going to fit the rest in this slow cooker, don’t worry it will cook down enough to add the other stuff later) Pour in broth, soy sauce and bay leaves. Cover and cook for 9-10 hours on low. - See more at: http://www.missinformationblog.com/2013/04/slow-cooker-beef-bourguignon.html#sthash.j3jQiv8c.dpuf
I had trouble cutting the bacon uncooked so I sectioned the slices up into thirds, cooked them and then shredded it up before putting in the onions, carrots, paste, etc.


Ingredients: 4 lbs boneless beef chuck roast trimmed and cut into 1 1/2” cubes (have the butcher do it for you) 6 slices of bacon minced then cooked 3/4 bag of frozen onion 10 baby carrots cut into small pieces or 1 medium carrot 1/4 cup of tomato paste or a 8oz can of reduced can of tomato sauce 3 tablespoons minced garlic 1 teaspoon dry thyme 1/3 cup all purpose flour 2 cups Pinot Noir 2 cups low-sodium chicken stock 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce 2 bay leaves 2 tablespoons butter 1 package of frozen pearl onions 1/2 cup water 2 teaspoons sugar 2 cartons of baby bella mushrooms cut into quarters Season the beef with Salt and Pepper and put it in your slow cooker. Cook bacon in a skillet until crisp and drain. Put your diced onions in the skillet with the carrot’s, tomato paste, garlic and thyme till onions are unfrozen and soft. Put in your flour and stir for 1 minute to get the flour taste out of it. Stir in 1 cup of wine and get all the bacon bits off the bottom of the pan. Pour into the crock-pot. (You are now wondering how am I going to fit the rest in this slow cooker, don’t worry it will cook down enough to add the other stuff later) Pour in broth, soy sauce and bay leaves. Cover and cook for 9-10 hours on low. - See more at: http://www.missinformationblog.com/2013/04/slow-cooker-beef-bourguignon.html#sthash.j3jQiv8c.dpuf
Ingredients: 4 lbs boneless beef chuck roast trimmed and cut into 1 1/2” cubes (have the butcher do it for you) 6 slices of bacon minced then cooked 3/4 bag of frozen onion 10 baby carrots cut into small pieces or 1 medium carrot 1/4 cup of tomato paste or a 8oz can of reduced can of tomato sauce 3 tablespoons minced garlic 1 teaspoon dry thyme 1/3 cup all purpose flour 2 cups Pinot Noir 2 cups low-sodium chicken stock 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce 2 bay leaves 2 tablespoons butter 1 package of frozen pearl onions 1/2 cup water 2 teaspoons sugar 2 cartons of baby bella mushrooms cut into quarters Season the beef with Salt and Pepper and put it in your slow cooker. Cook bacon in a skillet until crisp and drain. Put your diced onions in the skillet with the carrot’s, tomato paste, garlic and thyme till onions are unfrozen and soft. Put in your flour and stir for 1 minute to get the flour taste out of it. Stir in 1 cup of wine and get all the bacon bits off the bottom of the pan. Pour into the crock-pot. (You are now wondering how am I going to fit the rest in this slow cooker, don’t worry it will cook down enough to add the other stuff later) Pour in broth, soy sauce and bay leaves. Cover and cook for 9-10 hours on low. - See more at: http://www.missinformationblog.com/2013/04/slow-cooker-beef-bourguignon.html#sthash.j3jQiv8c.dpuf
I started mine pretty late, later than I wanted.  It was about 1:45pm when I finally finished the second step (had to take breaks to feed the baby, thankfully my toddler was napping) and I didn't want to wait until 11pm to eat it so I cooked on high for 5 hours.  I set it and forget it, only hoping that it wouldn't over cook the beef and make it extra chewy.  :(

This was what it looked like with about 2 hrs left!



With about an hour left, I started on the step with the peal onions.  I read that it's easy to peel them if you boil them for about 5 minutes, cut the root portion off and then squeeze them out, but we wanted them fresh so no squeezing.


I omitted the mushrooms because only one person in our family is fond of them.  Poured in the wine, reduced for a few minutes and added it to the crock pot with 45 minutes left on the timer.  I threw it in before the time expired for the pearl onions to really cook in there.  With 15 minutes left on the timer, I started the mashed potatoes.  Yes, boxed, because with little ones, I wanted that to be done fast.  :)

The end product all plated:

Yes, I probably should've put the salad on a separate plate, but we didn't mind it. 





Verdict: OHMIGOSH it was so amazing! A home run for our household!  My fear of the beef being overcooked?  The beef was "no knife needed" tender and the broth alone was tasty.  No extra salt or pepper needed and it does pair perfectly with mashed potatoes!


I hope you beef lovers will try this recipe out!


Cheers!

Boeuf Bourguignon
Boeuf Bourguignon
Boeuf Bourguignon

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