fancy (read French) beef stew

first you cut the bird...out of the meal cuz it's all about the beef tonight...er tomorrow since this meal takes FOREVER to cook!

By the way, did you totally imagine me saying that in my absolute BEST Julia Child accent?  I thought so!  ;)

I was shopping around aimlessly the other day for some kind of inspiration for this week's meal.  I saw some nice lean stew meat for a good price at Walmart, so that got me thinking about Beef Bourguignon.  um...yeah...don't ask me to pronounce it.  I mean it's perfectly clear in my head, but when I go to say it in the audible format, it sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo.  This would be a South Beach Phase 2 recipe, by the way.

I found several different recipes.  Whichever way I went, I knew I would have to employ my lightening skills - no, I can't conjure up thunderstorms with mere concentration and a lightening rod as if I were some kind of pseudo MacGuyver meets Benjamin Franklin kinda gal.  I mean that I knew I would have to remove some calories and fat without removing flavor.

I headed over to ol' faithful allrecipes.com to find a starter recipe or two and these are the two I found:

Beef Bourguignon I
Beef Bourguignon II

Here's what you need for my version:

1.5 to 2 lbs of lean cubed stew meat
3 TBSP whole wheat flour
2 TBSP olive oil
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp Adobo seasoning
1 onion chopped
10 oz carton mushrooms sliced
1/2 package Turkey bacon chopped
1 yellow squash chopped
1 lb asparagus chopped
1 1/2 cups red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, for example)
1 cup beef broth
1 TBSP tomato paste
1 tsp minced garlic
1 TBSP whole wheat flour
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp dried parsley
pinch of salt
shake of pepper
2 Bay Leaves

In a plastic Ziplock gallon-size bag, add in flour, thyme, Adobo, and parsley.  Shake and then add in beef.  Shake until beef is evenly coated.  Heat olive oil in pan on stove.  Brown the beef.  When the beef is done, put it in a 2-qt casserole dish.

Return pan to heat and add in chopped onion, mushrooms, and bacon.

While that is cooking, add yellow squash and asparagus to the beef mixture in the casserole dish.

Once the onion, mushroom, and bacon components are ready, add them to the casserole dish. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Return the pan to the heat and add in the wine, broth, tomato paste, remaining seasonings, bay leaves, garlic, and then whisk in the remaining 1 TBSP flour.

When your oven is ready, pour the wine mixture  over everything in your casserole dish.

Cover the dish and bake in the oven for 2 1/2 hours.  Uncover your dish and bake for another 1/2 hour.

Serve over brown rice or whole wheat pasta.

Now "they" say never to cook with a wine you wouldn't drink as the alcohol cooks off and you are left with the flavor.  I'm not really too much of a wine drinker and if I were to drink wine, I would most definitely not choose a red (tsk tsk, I know).  This meant that I could honestly have cared less and didn't want to spend the money on something expensive when I probably wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.  My point is that I bought a $2.97 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and still thought the dish tasted AMAZING.  I have to say that this is the most tender *fancy* stew I've ever eaten.  The flavors blended so beautifully and I couldn't have been more thrilled with the final product...ahem...save for the 3 1/2 hour prep and cook time.

Oh and I have no doubt you can use whatever veggies suits your fancy when you get all fancy with your own stewaging.  Next time I shall add zucchini to the mix AND there shall be a next time cuz it was THAT good!

bon appetit!