I slapped together some beef bourgogne before N and I went to our final childbirth class tonight. I hate leaving the stove on when I leave because I sit there and worry about my dog, but rationally I know that I leave the stove on for extended periods of time and nothing ever happens. It's the same standing near the edge of a tall building, fearing that some gust is going to come knock me over. I pretty much never just fall down in my day to day, so I have to convince myself to get over it. Still bugs the crap out of me though. In any case, never leave a stove unattended.
I started the stew (that's all it really is) a little after 6, class runs from 7-9, but went late so we could get through all the material before Meg turned us over to the real world. It took about 10 minutes to prep, a little bit of love over the first bit of cooking, then ran on autopilot for 2.5 more hours. Piece of cake.
And let me tell you, it kicked the crap out of Anthony Bourdain's Bouef Bourguignon. True, I've never done it with the demi-glace, but I didn't do mine with it either. And like I said, kicked the crap. Out of it. Here's the secret: don't use any water. The recipe in Les Halles starts uses a 3:2 water to beef ratio. As a water lover, I can tell you two things: water doesn't have any flavor, and when you do a water reduction, you still end up with water, just less of it.
So, here's a beer bourgogne for 4. I like my recipes fast and loose, so play with it at will.
1 big onion, white or yellow
2 lbs stew beef (or bouef)
1 bottle crappy red wine (use 1/2, drink 1/3, pour more in as needed)
spoonful of chopped garlic
herbs (I used a sprig each of fresh thyme, marjoram, and rosemary)
one box of chicken stock, or two cans
salt, pepper, love
Prepare the onion by cutting it in half and slicing it thin. Heat a heavy stew pot over high heat with a healthy glug or three of olive oil.
This first part is the only fast part, so read it before you act. After the next paragraph you can read as you go.
Throw in the onions and let them coat. Stir for a minute, don't burn the onion! Toss in your stew meat, which should be in good-sized hunks. You might put it in half at a time to maintain heat, you want some serious browning. If your pot cools, you'll grey the meat more than brown it (I learned that from Mr. Bourdain). Some pretty good steam should be coming off. It's okay if you get little charry bits, but don't go crazy. I like to salt the beef a bit at this point. Toss the garlic over the meat when it's getting close. You really don't want to burn the garlic, so be patient before putting it in. Give it a few good stirs, let it sit, then dump in the wine.
Turn the stove to medium high and bring the stew to a solid simmer. Add 3/4 box chicken stock (1.5 cans).
Tie the herbs together with kitchen twine. If you don't have kitchen twine, just throw the herbs in the pot still in twig form. I think you'll be able to find them later, and if you can't, just warn you guests to beware of chicken bones, and they'll be happy when all they find is a twig.
Now just let it simmer over a lowish simmering heat for 15 minutes or however long you feel like. You can cover it (like I did) for 2.5 hours then check it for seasoning and flavor when you feel like it. Feel free to add more wine or chicken stock to get the juices to go further. Just taste it as you screw with it.
To serve, I cooked some white rice in the pressure cooker (10 minutes, baby!) and spooned bouef and jus over it.
