Tasty Morsels 

½ pound bacon, diced
3 pounds beef chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 large onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups of a hearty red wine (burgundy if you have it)
3 cups beef stock
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon rosemary (fresh or dried is fine)
4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 bag of frozen white pearl onions
8 ounces fresh mushrooms (any kind you like, but wild is nicest)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon red currant jelly

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a Dutch oven or ovenproof casserole, sauté the bacon until crisp. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings. Brown the beef in the bacon fat in batches so as not to overcrowd the beef. When all are brown, return the beef to the pot and add the onion. Sprinkle the beef and onion mixture with salt, pepper and the flour. Stir to combine well and cook, continuing to stir for 3 minutes (the idea here is to make sure that the flour has cooked enough to lose its “flour” taste—it should brown a bit with the onions and the beef). Add the wine, the beef stock, the tomato paste, the rosemary and the reserved bacon. Stir to deglaze the pot and bring the mixture to the boil. Cover and place in the oven to cook for hours or until the meat is very tender.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the vegetables. Drain the pearl onions in a colander (they can be thawing while they’re draining). Bring water to the boil in a small saucepan. Add the cut carrots and parboil for about 7 minutes until crisp tender. Add them to the colander with the onions and drain. Wipe the mushrooms clean, remove their stems and cut the caps into quarters. In a small sauté pan, melt the butter and then sauté the mushrooms until they have released all of their juices and are slightly browned. Set aside.
When the meat has cooked for 1 ½ hours, add the onion, carrots, mushrooms and jelly to the pot. Return to the oven and continue to cook for another 30 to 40 minutes to heat the vegetables through. Serve immediately or cool and store in the refrigerator. This stew improves with age.

Adapted from: Sauce and Sensibility

I’ve neither cooked or ate beef bourguignon before. But I do love me some stew.

Like I mentioned, I’ve never eaten this before so I’m not entirely sure I had the flavors correct, but it was still pretty tasty. It seemed to get better with a little age also. Pardon my very, not-fancy, photography but the only bread I had was some delicious 12 grain bread. Oh, and the second time I ate it (I had tons of leftovers despite reducing the recipe), I did end up making mashed potatoes but it was so tasty that I forgot to take a photograph.

I think, perhaps, the next time I try this stew I might try a red wine that’s a little less… something. Something about the flavor of the stew was just off to me.