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beef bourguignon stew with vegetables. grey background. copy space.

Beef Bourguignon: A Comfort Food for All Seasons

Nick Duell (writer)24/06/2024

Anyone who loves French cuisine knows that it focuses on quality rather than quantity.

So you’ll find that traditional dishes focus on a couple of main flavours and use great quality ingredients that are fresh and local. 

This beef recipe fits the bill perfectly. Its star ingredient is grass-fed beef, which is cooked slowly for hours to draw out its sumptuous flavour and texture.

The red wine adds a depth and richness, evocative of those classic French dishes that you’ve most likely tasted on holiday and would love to recreate in your own kitchen.

So here’s your chance. Follow our recipe to create an authentic French dish that will delight the whole family. 

It’s simple to put together too. Find your ingredients including beef online for easy shopping and delivery. Do your initial prep then just sit back and enjoy those tempting aromas that will get your tastebuds ready for a nutritious and delicious meal!

beef bourguignon stew with vegetables. grey background. copy space.

Packed full of health-giving ingredients

Let’s take a closer look at the ingredients and find out more about their health benefits.

Grass-fed beef: the healthier choice

You may be wondering what’s so special about grass-fed beef. The first thing to know is that it doesn’t contain hormones and antibiotics, meaning that it’s not only healthier for you but a more ethical choice too.

Beef is naturally high in B vitamins, and grass-fed beef is higher than regular beef in vitamins A and E. It’s also lower in saturated fat and calories, making it an ideal choice for anyone watching their weight.

Grass-fed beef is also the green choice. As cows reared freely on pasture roam the land, they fertilise it and keep it cropped naturally. This negates the need for chemicals and petrol-driven machinery, reducing the cost to the environment.

An ABC of vitamins!

This recipe is simply stuffed with an alphabet’s worth of vitamins!

You’ll get a healthy dose of vitamins A, B, C and K from the carrots, as well as beta carotene, an antioxidant that gives this vegetable its distinctive orange colour.

Tomatoes have a similar vitamin profile and are renowned for being high in lycopene, another antioxidant that also acts as a pigment.

Onions are packed with impressive health benefits, from vitamins B6, B9 and C, through to the mineral potassium, which is known to help lower blood pressure.

Just like beef, mushrooms are rich in vitamin B and — surprisingly — vitamin D too. This is great news if you struggle to get out in the sunshine enough to trigger your body’s own vitamin D production. 

And of course, we’ve included that essential French ingredient, garlic, which is known to ward off infections and boost your immune system.

The perfect flavour combination

Another thing we love about French cooking is that it combines the perfect selection of flavours to enhance each dish’s true and delicious taste.

Choose a French red wine for this recipe to add that wonderfully rich dimension. Try a Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon for a full-bodied taste, or you can go for a Grenache or Pinot Noir for a lighter touch.

The herbs included in the ingredients list — thyme, parsley and bay leaves — add some fresh and rustic notes to the end flavour, while the butter included is enough to give it a rich and creamy taste.

Beef Bourguignon

  • Preparation: 15 min
  • Cooking: 3 h
  • Ready in: 3 h 15 min
  • For: 6 serves

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 175°C.
  2. Heat the oil in a large dutch oven or heavy based pot. Sauté the bacon over medium heat for about 3 minutes, until crisp and browned. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a large dish and set aside.
  3. Pat dry beef with paper towel; sear in batches in the hot oil/bacon fat until browned on all sides. Remove to the dish with the bacon.
  4. In the remaining oil/bacon fat, sauté the carrots and diced onions until softened, (about 3 minutes), then add 4 cloves minced garlic and cook for 1 minute. Drain excess fat (leave about 1 tablespoon in the pan) and return the bacon and beef back into the pot; season with 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt and 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper. Sprinkle with flour, toss well and cook for 4-5 minutes to brown.
  5. Add the pearl onions, wine and enough stock so that the meat is barely covered. Then add the tomato paste, bullion and herbs. Bring to a simmer on the stove.
  6. Cover, transfer to lower part of the oven and simmer for 2 to 3 hours, or until the meat is fall apart tender (adjust the heat so that the liquid simmers very slowly).

In the last 5 minutes of cooking time, prepare your mushrooms:

  1. Heat the butter in a medium-sized skillet/pan over heat. When the foam subsides, add the remaining 2 cloves garlic and cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds), then add in the mushrooms. Cook for about 5 minutes, while shaking the pan occasionally to coat with the butter. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Once they are browned, set aside.
  2. Place a colander over a large pot, remove the casserole from the oven and carefully empty its contents into the colander (you want to collect the sauce only). Discard the herbs
  3. Return the beef mixture back into the dutch oven or pot. Add the mushrooms over the meat.
  4. Remove any fat off the sauce( if any) and simmer for a minute or two, skimming off any additional fat which rises to the surface.
  5. You should be left with about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat the back of a spoon lightly. If the sauce is too thick, add a few tablespoons of stock. If the sauce is too thin, boil it over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until reduced to the right consistency.
  6. Taste for seasoning and adjust salt and pepper, if desired. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables.
  7. If you are serving immediately, simmer the beef bourguignon for 2 to 3 minutes to heat through.
  8. Garnish with parsley and serve with mashed potatoes, rice or noodles.

Notes

To serve the following day, allow the casserole to cool completely, cover and refrigerate.

The day of serving, remove from refrigerator for at least an hour before reheating. Place over medium-low heat and let simmer gently for about 10 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce.

Nutritional Information

  • Per recipe
  • Energy: 673 kcal / 2813 kJ
  • Fat: 32 g
  • Protein: 56 g
  • Carbs: 17 g

Take it slow

One of the best things about this recipe is that it’s cooked slowly. This means that once you’ve done the initial prep, you can throw all the ingredients in a single dish and let it simmer away for a few hours.

The result will be tender, melt-in-the-mouth beef, imbued with all the flavours of the other ingredients to create a unique and delicious dish.

The final word

Search out good quality, fresh ingredients for this recipe and you’ll be rewarded with a delicious and authentic-tasting dish that’s perfect for a family dinner.

Look for grass-fed beef online for delivery to your door or ask your local free-range butcher to provide the best and freshest cuts to make this recipe a success.

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