Beef Bourguignon

Beef bourguignon (sometimes also called beef burgundy in english) is a well known traditional french recipe and comes from the Burgundy region of France as do many other famous french dishes such as snails and the delicious appetizer gougères which I recently posted the recipe for.

Ingredients :

• 1 kg of braising steak
• 6 carrots
• 1 onion pierced with 2 cloves
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 orange
• Bouquet Garni
• 100g bacon lardons
• 50g butter
• 75cl (1 bottle) of dry red wine preferable a burgundy wine
• 1 tablespoon of tomato concentrate
• 1 tablespoon of flour
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• Salt & Pepper

Method :

1. The day before put the beef into a large bowl with the red wine, the juice and zest of the orange, the onion with cloves, the clove of garlic, the bouquet garni and the sugar, then cover and leave in the fridge overnight
2. The next day strain the marinade. In a large saucepan brown the meat in the butter
3. Add the flour and the tomato puree
4. Cook for 5 minutes over a gentle heat mixing all the time, then add the marinade and aromates (onion, garlic, bouquet garni)
5. Add the carrots, chopped into large chunks
6. Season and bring to a simmer. Give everything a good stir, then cover.
7. Cook over a low heat for 2 hours (until the meat is well cooked) The lower the heat and the slower the cooking, the better
8. Place the lardons in a saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil for 3 minutes to blanch them, drain once done
9. If the meat sauce is not thick enough, remove the meat and garniture from the pan and cook the sauce until it thickens
10. Put the meat and garniture back in the pan with the lardons, cook altogether for 5 minutes  over a low heat
11. Serve with mashed potatoes