Since I'm not currently travelling or feeling like writing about political/social/personal stuff, it's inevitable I'm going to use this space to share one of the things I'm happiest about right now... food!
This week I decided to try out a delicious looking Boeuf Bourguignon with a recipe shared on my new favourite food blog, FXCuisine.com. I know about the administrator of that site, François-Xavier, as administrator of another site I frequent, How-To-Learn-Any-Language.com. If you read his about page, you will be impressed. The guy's not even a chef, and check out the lighting setup he has above his stove!
Anyway, I threw this dish together somewhat impulsively. It's supposed to marinade in red wine overnight but I just left it to soak from around 11am-3pm. The recipe calls for a glass of grappa but I used instead the Havana Club rum I picked up the night before for the express purpose of getting drunk at a class party but having enough left over to make this bourguignon!
The beef gets patted dry then browned to seal the meat. I fried up the onions and garlic that was in the marinade then dumped it in the pot along with the reserved wine/rum marinade. I made a little butter/flour roux and threw it in to thicken the sauce. I think cooked that on simmer for like 4 hours (it probably would have gone quicker if I had marinated overnight, or if I wasn't impatient/curious and kept opening the lid to look). About a half hour before it was ready I quickly sautéed some mushrooms, carrots, and whole peeled onions (shallots, actually), and
tossed them in.
Lastly I boiled potatoes and made mashed potatoes (which I've never done before... boy is it easy and good!) with some cream and butter, then formed a little volcano out of it and served the boeurguignon inside the volcano. It was really good! I'm going to cook it again for my family on Tuesday, probably with a better cut of meat (I had a bottom round which I had frozen for a few weeks. It was good but I imagine I'll be able to tell the difference with a fresh and better cut). If you want to give this a shot, I'd definitely recommend the recipe on FXCuisine, it's very easy to follow and offers some flexibility. And his photos are way more awesome than mine (but he's probably spent over $10,000 on photo stuff, so I don't feel bad).
À bientôt!
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