Serves 8 large servings
1-2T good olive oil
8 ounces center cut apple wood smoked bacon
Yield: 2 ½ pounds chuck beef roast (so buy more: enough to account for cutting off fat and any bone weight)
Salt and pepper
1-pound carrots
2 large, sweet onions or yellow onions
3 very large garlic cloves
1/2 cup Cognac (I didn’t have quite enough so I used some bourbon to fill in)
1 (750 ml) bottle good, medium-bodied wine: Pinot Noir or Cotes du Rhone
1 can (14.5 ounce can or 2 cups beef stock (I thought the low-salt brand with 400mg/cup of sodium worked well)
1 heaping T tomato paste
1 T fresh thyme leaves
4 T unsalted butter, room temperature
1-pound fresh button mushrooms
1 bag frozen pearl onions (12-ounce bag is fine; 16 ounce bag is fine)
1 T granulated sugar
3 T flour
To finish: 1 T cognac mixed in, and minced parsley sprinkled on top
SERVING WITH MASHED POTATOES is my favorite
But I read that noodles, thick toasted bread (Ina Garten), smashed boiled potatoes (Julia Child traditional), work too.
Dice the bacon.
Cut beef into 1” cubes.
Slice carrots diagonally into 1” chunks.
Clean the mushrooms. Discard the stems. Cut caps into thick slices.
Slice the onions.
Mince the garlic cloves.
Heat the olive oil in a large oven-worthy Dutch oven. Add the bacon and cook, stirring until lightly browned.
With a slotted spoon, remove bacon to a large bowl.
Dry the beef cubes with paper towels and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
In batches in single layers, sear the beef in the hot oil for 3-5 minutes, turning to brown all sides.
Remove the seared cubes to the bowl with the bacon and set the bowl aside.
Toss the carrots and onions with maybe 1/4 tsp salt and some pepper and cook in the Dutch oven, stirring occasionally, about 10-15 minutes until the onions are lightly browned.
Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute.
Add the Cognac, stand back and ignite with a long match to burn off alcohol.
Put the meat and bacon along with their accumulated juices into the Dutch oven.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. (Recipe said 250, but I thought that would be too slow. 325 was fine.)
Add enough wine plus the beef stock to almost cover the meat. (I used all the wine and the 2 cups stock). *
Add tomato paste and thyme.
Bring to a summer. Cover with a lid and place it in the oven until meat is tender. Mine took about 2 ½ or 3 hours.
(the recipe said it would take 1 ½ hours!)
While the stew cooks:
Melt 1 T butter in a large skillet. Add mushrooms and ¼ tsp salt. Cover the skillet and cook for about 5 minutes or until mushrooms have released their liquid. Uncover and cook until the liquid is evaporated, and the mushrooms are nicely golden browned, about 5-10 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Cover the bowl.
Add the frozen onions, 1/2 cup water, 1T butter, 1T sugar, and 1/4 tsp salt to the large skillet. Bring to boil.
Cover the skillet, reduce heat, and simmer until onions are tender, about 5 minutes.
Uncover the skillet, increase heat to high and simmer away the liquid and allow the onions to brown (maybe 5 minutes).
(When I made this there was so much liquid that I poured off most of it:
the onions were already done & I didn’t want them cooking and cooking just to remove all the liquid.)
Transfer onion mixture to the bowl to combine with the mushrooms.
When stew is done:
In a small bowl, using a fork, mix 2T room temperature butter with 3T flour.
Stir butter/flour mixture into the stew and let it boil a bit to thicken the gravy.
Stir the mushroom/onion mixture into the stew.
Let stew cool while on the countertop, then refrigerate it uncovered until it is completely cool. Put the lid on to store.
When getting ready for dinner:
Bring the pot out of the fridge about 2-3 hours before you want to serve it.
If there is a lot of fat, skim it off. (I had hardly any, so I left it in.)
*When heating the stew –
If it is too thin, just make a flour/butter (or cornstarch/water?) mixture.
Stir it in and boil for a few minutes to thicken.
Mine was fine without doing that – as long as it was served over mashed potatoes to soak up the yummy gravy.
After the stew is re-heated, stir in (optional) 1 T brandy.
Serve over the mashed potatoes.
It’s pretty to sprinkle on parsley for a garnish.
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