French Beef Stew (Boeuf Bourgignon)

I love cooking and love looking through books with recipes..I actually have a box full of them, which I'm busy sorting i might add, but through the years i have seen and read through tons of recipes and cookbooks and i also have the same problem....I don't always have the ingredients or the know how on how to make the recipe....but i have no decided no recipe will be to big for me...thus i have made the following dish.

About two years ago I saw the movie Julie Julie, about Julia Child, and since watching the movie I have wanted to make this dish...it seemed so complicated, but let me tell you...I made it my why....and let me tell you it was absolutely fabulous...amongst the best food I've ever made...

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So how do we start this bad boy:

1.  First you add your garlic & 2 cups of red wine and then place the meat in the fridge so that all the "juice" can be sucked up.  And of course pour yourself a glass too.

2.  Next step is to chop up the onion, place it in the pan with some of the butter and braze (meaning cook) until it is golden brown, as you can see below:

3.  When your onions are nice and brown add some carrots, I actually added frozen carrots, since that's what I keep in the freezer even though the recipe said fresh.  It still came out perfect, but it's up to you.

Now back to meat:

4.  First strain (nice word for draining) the meat, don't throw away your sauce/ wine marinade as you will be using it again.  Once again as in my other posts i use a pressure cooker, since it's fast and very effective.  So after you strain the meat put the meat into your pot, be it a pressure cooker, slow cooker or normal pot.

5.  So add some seasoning, i used as usually Soya Sauce, beef spice, rosemary herbs, and salt and grind black pepper.  Brown your meat until it looks like below...don't let it burn.  After that leave it for now until your sauce is complete.

Now on to the sauce:

6.  In the next step I have taken a picture of what you will need:

Your wine marinade, tomato paste and then I used the Brown Onion packet as you can see below, i didn't have any beef stock, but you are welcome to use what you have, if you don't have either don't worry, use normal beef spice. 

7.  Add two tablespoon full of flour to your carrots & onions and mix, it almost makes a paste, this is to thicken the sauce.

8.  Then add your wine marinade, tomato paste and seasoning and water.  Mix well, keep stirring, your sauce will start to thicken and let it simmer for a little while, but make sure it doesn't burn.

9.  After the sauce has thickened add it to the meat and mix well.  Your almost there, if you are using a pressure cooker like i am then it will take about 10 minutes to cook, in a pot or in the oven about 30 minutes.   

 10.  When it's nice and brown, the carrots is nice and tender and the sauce looks "cooked" then you are ready to dish up.. This is a french beef stew and can be served with either french bread and a nice green salad.  In my case i made some mash and it really complimented the stew wonderfully.  Enjoy the meal this to me has been a personal favourite..

Let the taste transport you...