Kathy's Beef Bourguignon

Talk about comfort food, this is it at its best.  It's a very rich, warm, and hearty meal.  The meat is very tender which is a nice result from the wine and slow cooking.

We were talking on how we could make it better and we came up with nodda, nothing, zilch. If you are not a mashed potato lover, you could always put the beef over egg noodles and give this French dish a German flair. 

 INGREDIENTS:

2 pounds of beef stew meat

1/4 cup of all-purpose flour

season with salt and pepper

4 Tablespoons butter

Shallots ( two large bulbs)

5 large carrots, sliced into 2 inch pieces

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 cups Merlot wine

1 cup beef broth

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

8 ounces sliced mushrooms

Potatoes, (for the mashed potatoes)

Don't forget the Mashed Potatoes.When your Beef's in the last stages of cooking. Make your favorite recipe of mashed potatoes.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to a temperature of 325 Degrees (Must be at this temp when you put the meat in the oven).

In a large dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. 

While the butter is melting, toss the meat in the flour, salt, and pepper mixture. Add to the pot of melted butter and brown the meat on all sides for about 4-5 minutes.  Add the shallots, garlic, carrots, and brown for another 4-5 minutes.

Now it's time to deglaze the pot with the wine. Save the beef broth for later. Make sure you get all the brown pieces off the bottom of the pot. Return the browned beef to the pot, and add the bay leaf and fresh thyme. 

Cover the pot and transfer it to the preheated oven.

Allow the stew to cook covered in the oven for 2 hours. This slow cooking process will tenderize the meat  and meld all the flavors together.

After 2 hours, add the mushrooms and the beef broth to the stew and return it to the oven.  If the gravy seems too thick you can add an extra half cup of beef broth. Cook for an additional hour. The mushrooms will absorb the flavors of the sauce and provide a contrasting texture to the tender beef.

We are mashed potato lovers in this house so of course we do what is always suggested with this dish and make some mashed potatoes and scoop the meat, carrots and gravy over them.  Delish!