Beef Bourguignon: Easy and Delicious!

 Beef Bourguignon:  Easy and Delicious!

Ok, so it’s not exactly the time to be jolly.  Illness is sweeping the globe. You’re stuck in your house. The house is already so clean you can’t stand it.  The clothes are washed and folded and refolded.

But, hey, the wine cabinet is full, n’est pas?  That alone is cause to put on some soft music and think naughty thoughts.  OH, already done that?  You’re way ahead of me!  My apologies for interrupting….  

But, just in case, here’s some unwanted, necessary advice?  Pour yourself some vin de chez vous, suga, put on some soft music, light a few candles, and let’s make some stuck-in-the-house French comfort food.  Before we start, better pour yourself another.  I suggest red, but hey, who am I to spoil a good party?

I promise this recipe is a delicious way to go through a bottle or two of jolly good red on your way to whoopee-land.

And by the way, why is Beef Bourguignon called that?  The dish originated in the French province of Burgundy or in French: Bourgogne.

Easy, Delicious Beef Bourguignon (Biscuit recipe follows)

Note: I changed the traditional recipe to simplify and match what I had on hand.

3 pounds beef roast, cut into 1 inch cubes

Salt, pepper

Enough flour to lightly dust the meat (I used rice flour, but any flour will do)

1 Cup or more of red wine

3-4 Cups beef broth

3 Potatoes, scrubbed, unpeeled, cut into chunks

1 Big handful of baby carrots (or large carrots cut into chunks)

1 Stalk celery, cut into bite sized pieces.

Thin sliced green onions for garnish and to lend a fresh taste

3-4 Tablespoons Canola Oil, or another oil that can stand up to high heat

Rice as an accompaniment 

Biscuits also as an accompaniment

Oven to 300ºF or 150ºC

Before you start on the beef, make the biscuits (recipe below).

Put the beef, salt and pepper in a large bowl and dust with the flour.

Using a large Dutch oven, with a lid, put oil in the pan and turn on the heat.  Before the oil starts to smoke, cook the meat a batch at a time, to just brown.  Don’t cook all the juice out!

Put all the meat back on the heat and pour in the wine, scrapping the bottom to deglaze the pan.

With the pan deglazed, pour in the beef broth, add the vegetables and put the lid on the pan.  Pop it in the pre-heated oven and cook for about two hours, or until the meat is very tender.

Remove the pan from the oven and put it back on the stovetop to simmer, and reduce the liquid to a medium thick gravy. 

Serve over rice, garnished with thin sliced green onions.

I also served mine with biscuits.  Here’s the recipe:

https://stroudallover.blogspot.com/2012/01/mastering-ubiquitous-biscuit.html

And for dessert?  Cheery  Cherry Pie, naturally.  You’re thinking, Cherry Pie?  Really?  Yes, brothers and sisters, in times of ubiquitous illness, others may turn to chicken noodle soup, but I turn to cherry pie. Hasn’t failed me yet.

Now, let’s have another glass of your excellent wine!  Or maybe a Spanish brandy?

Eggplant, Beef, Tomato, and Mushroom Casserole

Time out from travel writing to share a recipe that will keep a fork in your hand, waiting for seconds.  But, of course if you’d rather just have something quick from McNugget…But, no, you’re particular, a connoisseur , even if you can’t spell the word and still drink wine straight from the bottle.  Perhaps I’m being too harsh and you’re really a jelly jar kind of drinker.

We all have our weaknesses.  My one and only failing is, when I cook, I cook too much.  Dinner for two morphs into a week of leftovers.  In this case, it doesn’t matter a whit.  I could eat this casserole everyday for a month and still have a lingering taste for more.

Eggplant With Beef, Tomato, and Mushrooms

2 large eggplants, cut into half-inch thick rounds

4 (or more) tablespoons olive oil

Couple of teaspoons of salt, or more

1 medium onion, finely diced

4 cloves garlic, thin sliced

1 lb freshly ground beef

2 cups fresh mushrooms, quartered

3 generous shakes of powdered cinnamon

black pepper to taste

1 (28 oz) can of whole tomatoes, pureed in a blender or food processor, juice and all

12 oz fresh (not shredded!) mozzarella, sliced

Some Hints:  I use fresh mozzarella, packaged whole and still in it’s juice. Yes, of course I drain it!  As for the ground beef, don’t settle for the packaged and compressed variety.  Get your butcher to grind some for you RIGHT NOW.  Whole, canned tomatoes taste better to me, so I use them instead of diced or canned tomato sauce.

Wipe a 9 x 12 baking dish with olive oil.

Preheat the broiler, slice the eggplants, paint them (both sides) with olive oil, dust them with salt and pepper and slip them in the oven.  When one side is lightly browned, flip the slices over and lightly brown the other side.  When they’re done, set them aside.  Change the oven setting from broil to 375ºF (190ºC).

Add olive oil to a pan, put in the diced onion and sliced garlic.  Stir until the onions are limp, but not brown.  Add the ground beef and stir, breaking it up until it looks grainy and is just barely cooked through.  Add the cinnamon, salt and pepper (to taste) and stir.  Stir in the quartered mushrooms and cook until mushrooms are barely beginning to soften.

Putting it all together:  Step 1.  Pour a third of the blended tomato sauce in the baking dish and spread it around.  Put a third of the eggplant slices on top, then a third of the meat.  Repeat until everything is used up, with an eggplant layer on top.

Cover the filled baking dish with foil, put it on a baking sheet with sides.  Add a cup of water to surround the baking dish, and slide everything into the oven. Bake for 90 minutes.  This is a sloppy dish and the baking sheet will catch any spills.

Step 2.  Take the baking pan and baking dish out of the oven, remove the foil and throw it away. Put the sliced mozzarella on top, and put everything back in the oven. Do not cover.  Leave it until the cheese is melted and just beginning to brown.

Serve with rice.

Caution:  Do not eat too much.  You will become fat and be all alone and miserable as you drink from your jelly jar.  Then you will also drink too much and forget if connoisseur begins with a C or a K.

Guinness Beef Pie

And you thought Guinness, the heavenly gift from Ireland, was just for drinking, shampooing, brushing your teeth, and gargling.  As the Irish say, fook no.  You gotta keep some spare cans in your kitchen.  Tuck a couple of cans away where your thirsty wife won’t find ‘em. I’m about to give you just one reason why.  Guinness Beef Pie.

But, first I have to let you in on a secret.  Yes, I know I’ve blogged about going to the Guinness Brewery at St. James Gate, Dublin, and told you most of what you need to know about this Irish legend.

http://stroudallover.blogspot.de/2013/08/a-little-bit-of-ireland-lot-of-guinness.html

But, in my haste, I left out the part about crowd-pleasing cooking.   I’m going to rectify that omission, right after I give you a hint about using Guinness for either cooking, or drinking:  buy Guinness in a can.  It’s marked ‘draft’ and that’s not just an expression.  Normally, if I can’t get real draft, I go for a bottle, but in the case of Guinness, I make a rare exception.  The Guinness cans contain an agitation ball and when the can is opened and poured, the brew is aerated automatically, giving you very, very close to a true draft taste.  Ok, now that you’re enlightened, let’s move on to the long anticipated, lip smacking recipe.

Guinness Beef Pie

2 ½ pounds (approx.) beef chuck roast, most fat removed and the beef cut into spoon-sized cubes.

2 tablespoons oil

4 ribs celery, diced  (I use the leaves as well)

2 cloves garlic, diced

3 carrots, peeled and diced

1 onion, diced

1-2 teaspoons powdered cinnamon

1 can Guinness (14.9 Fl. oz., Draft)

2 heaping tablespoons undiluted beef broth (not granulated or normal strength.  I always use Bovril)

3 tablespoons butter, mashed together with 3 tablespoons of flour for thickener

1 sheet of packaged, frozen puff pastry crust, thawed

1 egg yolk

salt and pepper to taste

Salt and pepper the beef.  Put the oil in a large pot, or Dutch oven and turn heat to medium high.  When the oil is hot, add the beef chunks and stir to barely brown.  Don’t worry that the meat is only partially cooked.  It’ll get a lengthy cooking very soon.  Don’t pour off the extra liquid from the cooked meat.

When the beef is barely browned, add all the vegetables/garlic and stir.  Add the can of Guinness and the undiluted beef broth.  Add the cinnamon.  When the mixture comes to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer. Partially cover and let the mixture cook until the meat is tender, about an hour.

When the meat is tender, add the flour/butter mixture and stir.  Cook another 5 minutes or so until the gravy thickens, and also to cook away any raw flour flavor.

Meanwhile, let the sheet of puff pastry thaw.

Heat the oven to 350ºF, or 180º C.

Pour the pie

mixture in a casserole dish, cover decoratively with the sheet of puff pastry and paint the puff pastry with a beaten egg yolk.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is light, golden brown.

You’ve deprived yourself long enough.  Pop the top on another Guinness and let’s discuss your favorite Irish writers.  On the other hand, we can concentrate on drinking and eating and just say ‘fook it.’

Heirloom BBQ - in Hotlanta!

The outside ain't nothin' special, but inside....oh, man!

When you talk about barbeque, you’re talking about old jeans, standing outside, and moving around to keep the smoke outta your face. Anything else is only make believe barbeque for folks who would rather be at Starbucks and think mayo is spicy.

The word itself is strange.  Some end it with que and some with cue.  Some just write it as BBQ or Q.  The word has a dimly lit past, but probably comes from an Indian word meaning 'no sex until the meat is cooked.'  Hence the need for slow cooking. I made that up.  It really means sacred pit of fire.  Which I suppose could also apply to sex.

You’ll find the good stuff all over the southeast United States, from the lapping waters of the Atlanta on the east coast and west through the blazing sun of Texas.  But, the type of barbeque changes. A few geographic hints tell you what to expect.  The further west you go, the more likely you’ll be eatin’ beef and red sauce.  Come east from Texas and you get more and more pork. North Carolina and north, you’ll have pork with vinegar-based sauce.  Cross the line into South Carolina and Georgia, and it’s pork, with a mustard based sauce.

In this day of cultural homogenization, you’ll likely find bits and pieces of each, but it’s rare to find a Q-Joint that does all of it well.

I found one, at 2243 Akers Mill Rd. Atlanta, GA.  It’s just off Hwy 285 and no matter where you are, make the trip!  Heirloom Bar B Que.  This is old-fashioned style Q, which only comes from hours and hours of smoking slabs of meat over a wood fire, with nothing hurried.  When you're doing barbeque, there's no substitute for low temps and lots of time.

At Heirloom, you’ll get smoky Q at it’s very best, whether you’re talkin’ fall-apart beef brisket, or pulled pork.  Have a particular style sauce you like?  They’ve got it.  Best of all, everything’s made in-house. 

Have you noticed a trend in the kinds of food I like?  First off, it’s fresh with a CAPITAL F!  Secondly, the chef (or in this case Chefs) have got to be passionate about what they do and how they do it.

Chef Jiyeon Lee is a South Korean native.  Taylor Cody is a Texan, transplanted.  Both labored through their apprenticeships at a list of places that would grab any knowledgeable foodie’s attention. You can read all about both chefs on the Heirloom web page.

http://heirloommarketbbq.com/Home_Page.php

What makes a great Q joint?  First off, it’s got to be so understated and unpretentious that the food is the only reason, outside of a flat tire, or medical emergency you’d give the place a second thought.  If it’s a chain, forget it. Packaged sauces? Climb back in your car.  But, if you don’t see a barbeque pit and smell the smoke, RUN.

In Heirloom’s case, you pull into a partially overgrown parking lot, and soon figure out you don’t have to go through an old convenience store to get to the food.  It’s next door. Walk in, belly up, and before the screen door flaps closed behind you, a smiling face will take your order.  While you wait on your grub, grab a white, plastic spoon and taste some of the sauces in a rack on the wall behind you. Take your time.  They’re all wonderful.

Heirloom is tiny, with an eclectic interior, and sensationally efficient service.  Grab your paper-wrapped bag of goodies, follow the crowd outside, and stand at an elbow-high table to savor the smoky flavors of a barbeque paradise. The sacred fire pit is right next to you.

I had the brisket and thought I’d been transported to Texas.  Brisket has got to be tender.  These savory slices fell apart.  Another in our party ate succulent pulled pork and said not one word until every scrap of the sandwich disappeared. Our fairest member dug into a half rack of fall-off-the-bone pork ribs.  She didn’t offer to share.

Specials and sides change by the day or the week, or whenever.  I had Korean style sweet potatoes, thinly sliced, fried, doused with a sweet soy sauce, and sprinkled with white sesame seeds.  A perfect accompaniment to the spicy, smoky tang of the brisket.

How do I find these places?  I often wonder that myself.  We’d driven four hours, and passed through on our way to somewhere else.  Just happened to read Heirloom had been named the Best Barbeque in Atlanta.  Never heard of the place. Culinary luck on a grand scale.

Now Heirloom's barbeque fills my dreams and as Ah-nuld says, Ah’ll be bock!