Beef Bourguignon

I was at home all afternoon waiting on the dishwasher repairman and decided to keep myself busy by making a really yummy dinner. I haven’t had a chance to slowly prepare a meal in a long time, I was very excited for an afternoon of cooking. I decided to braise some boneless beef short ribs and found a few recipes for Beef Bourguignon. Almost all of them call for an entire bottle of wine, I’m sorry, I can’t pour a whole bottle of good red wine into a pot and boil it off. I would rather drink it! My adaptation calls for only a cup of wine and then uses a balsamic vinegar reduction to add flavor at the end. This way I have extra wine to enjoy while cooking and a little more to share with Johnny during dinner : )

Traditionally, Beef Bourguignon also calls for bacon and is made with stew beef or chuck roast. I felt that the short ribs had enough marbling and adding bacon would be overkill. It was not missed, we still had a very luscious sauce and tender beef. It was delicious. I simplified this to a recipe and did the braising in the oven but you could easily start on the stove top and then transfer to a slow cooker or a pressure cooker. This recipe is written for a Dutch oven or braising pot. Carrots are usually cooked within the stew but I roasted mine separately with some potatoes. I liked the contrast.

What you need:

2-3 tbsp olive oil

2.5 lbs of boneless beef short ribs

1 small yellow onion, sliced

1 large shallot, sliced

4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 cup sliced button mushrooms

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp dried parsley

2 tbsp butter

3 tbsp all purpose flour

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 cup full bodied red wine (I used Cotes Du Rhône, you could use a Cab or Merlot too)

2.5 cups beef broth

3 tbsp Balsamic Reduction

Salt and pepper

*optional carrots and potatoes with Parmesan

1 lb of yellow potatoes, cleaned and chopped into wedges

1 lb of carrots, peeled and trimmed into similar sized pieces as the potatoes

3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Olive oil, salt, and pepper

The first thing you want to do is cut your short ribs in half, they will probably be packaged in 6-7 inch pieces and they will cook faster and be easier to serve in 3-4 inch pieces. Then salt them generously. Place a dutch oven over medium high heat and add the olive oil. When it starts to sizzle add the short ribs and begin to sear about 3 minutes per side. You may need to work in batches. After they have been thoroughly browned, remove to a side plate. Do not drain the beef fat. Preheat the oven to 250°.

Turn the heat down slightly and add the onion, shallot, and mushrooms. I recommend using a wooden spatula. Add a pinch of salt and start to render the veggies. After about 5 minutes the onions should be very aromatic and translucent and the mushrooms should start to caramelize. Gently stir in the butter, flour and garlic. The flour should coat everything and begin to brown. Be very careful not to burn the flour. It will start to appear dry. Add the tomato paste and stir to combine, gently scrape up browned bits from the bottom of the pan. The flour and tomato paste will serve as a thickening agent but also add flavor to the sauce. After a minute or two pour in the red wine. Bring to a boil and then add the broth. Add in the dried herbs. Stir into a smooth sauce. Lastly, add the short ribs back into the pot and cover with a lid. Place the entire dish in the oven and cook for 2 hours. After about two hours the meat should be fork tender. Place back on the stove top and remove the lid. Simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes to reduce and thicken the sauce. Allow to rest for a few minutes and then enjoy : )

If you would like to serve with roasted carrots and potatoes, these can easily be done in the oven while you are reducing the sauce. Turn the oven up to 425°. Coat the carrots and potatoes with olive oil and a generous amount of salt and pepper. I use parchment paper on the pan for easily clean up and to prevent the cheese from getting stuck. Roast for 20 minutes. Gently flip and then sprinkle over the Parmesan cheese. Place back in the oven for about 5 minutes. They will be finished when they pierce easily with a fork.

*If you are using a pressure or slow cooker, check the manual. They almost always have suggested cooking times for certain cuts of meat.

This stuff is very good to keep on hand! I used it all the time. Might be called Balsamic Glaze or Balsamic Reduction.

before cutting in half…

halved and searing

adding flour to the veggies

browned flour before deglazing with tomato paste and wine

just before placing in the oven

Creamy White Beans with Leeks and Bacon

Another frigid day is upon us and I’m leaning into comfort food. What’s more comforting than a warm bowl of beans scented with rosemary, garlic, and smokey bacon? This recipe took the same amount of time to prepare as it took for me to cook some chicken fingers in the oven for my girls. Surprisingly, they smelled the beans simmering on the stove top and asked for some. Next thing I know, they are going back for seconds of the bean stew and the chicken fingers were barely touched (happy to save those for another day). The girls are usually pretty good at eating whatever I put in front of them, but I didn’t expect them to like this as much as they did. It’s simple, creamy, and satisfying.

What you need:

2 tbsp olive oil

2 slices of good quality / thick bacon

1 large leek, washed and finely chopped

1 carrot, peeled and diced

2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp fresh chopped rosemary

1 tbsp butter

2 15.5 oz cans of cannellini beans

1 cup of half and half

2 tbsp of grated Parmesan cheese + more for serving

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Take a small soup pot and heat it on the stove top over medium heat and add the olive oil and leeks. Add a pinch of salt. Finely chop the bacon and add it to the pot with the leeks. Lastly, add the carrots and stir occasionally for 5 minutes until the bacon is rendered and brown and the vegetables are soft. Add the butter, garlic, and rosemary and cook for 2-3 minutes until it becomes very fragrant. Stir to ensure it doesn’t burn. Now turn the burner to low and allow it to cool slightly. Add another pinch of salt and the half and half. Rinse and drain the cannellini beans and add them to the pot. Slowly bring the heat back up (not above medium) so that the cream begins to gently bubble. Allow it to simmer for another 5-10 minutes, stirring often, until it is slightly thickened and warmed all the way through. You don’t want to increase the heat too quickly or the cream will separate and curdle. Add two tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Turn off the stove and serve with toast and more cheese if desired. Enjoy!

Little Lemon Tea Cakes

Imagine combining fresh squeezed lemonade into a miniature pound cake with a crunchy sweet exterior. These little cakes are so fresh and lemony. They pair perfectly with your favorite tea for an afternoon pick me up or could be served for an elegant brunch. My daughter adores them and requests that we bake them every chance we get. They are pretty simple to make and have only a few ingredients. They are tangy, moist, rich, and have the perfect glaze on top. Not too sweet but just sweet enough, everything a cutesy demure cake should be : )

What you need:

For the cake:

• 2 cups granulated white sugar

• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt

• zest of 1 whole lemon

• zest of 1 lime

• 1 cup whole milk / full fat yogurt

• 3/4 cup vegetable or canola oil

• 3/4 cup melted butter

• 4 large eggs

• 3 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

Use 2 muffin tins for baking (makes 24 total) lined with non stick / parchment baking cups.

For the glaze:

• juice of one lemon

• one cup of confectioners sugar

  (Combine in a small bowl by stirring until you have a glossy smooth glaze with no lumps)

Pulling the eggs out of the refrigerator before you begin any baking recipe is important because room temperature eggs will emulsify better with the other ingredients and result in a better bake. So first, crack 4 eggs into a bowl and set them aside. Also, preheat the oven to 375° . Next, melt the butter in a microwave safe dish. About 30 seconds should do it. Now measure out the sugar and pour it into the mixing bowl. Zest the lemon and lime directly into the mixing bowl and rub the sugar and zest together with your fingers to release the lemon and lime oils. It will start to smell very fragrant. A few seconds of rubbing the sugar and oil together should be enough. Give it a quick stir. Now turn the mixer on between low and medium and gradually add in the melted butter, oil, and yogurt. When those are well combined add the eggs. Mix on medium for about 30 seconds until its glossy and well combined.

Now add the flour, salt, and baking powder to a bowl and give a quick stir to combine. I recently learned that if you do not have a scale to weigh your flour that you should scoop the flour into the measuring cup instead of using the measuring cup as a scoop (it was a cooking podcast, maybe Milk Street…I can’t remember, but now its what I do). When you use the measuring cup as a scoop it tends to be too tightly packed. You want a loosely packed cup of flour to ensure you don’t use too much and make the cake dry. Add the flour combination to the egg mixture and mix until just combined. Ladle large spoonfuls of batter into the baking cups so they are about 3/4 full. You should have just enough. My oven achieved perfection in 23 minutes but I’d start checking after 20 minutes. You can make the glaze while they are baking.

They will be lightly browned around the edges when finished. Remove them from the oven and allow to cool for around 5 minutes before pouring the glaze onto each cake. Use about 2 tbsp of glaze per cake, just gently pour it onto the top of each one and let it drip down the sides. Enjoy!