Super Plate Sunday

I have to admit it, ever since watching Julie & Julia I've been salivating over Julia Child's signature dish: Boeuf Bourguignon. Seriously, how good could it be? The characters in the movie made such a big deal about it and I was intrigued. If you're not familiar with the recipe, it's quite time intensive. But, as far as I'm concerned, what better way to spend a Sunday than working in the kitchen? (Sorry Colts/Saints fans, football just ain't my thing...)

Surprisingly enough, I don't actually own a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. (Then again, I also don't own the other quintessential cookbook, The Joy of Cooking.) So I did the logical thing - I googled the recipe. (How did we ever survive before Google?) The best I found was here: http://cooking.knopfdoubleday.com/2009/07/13/julia-childs-boeuf-bourguignon-recipe/ and it included the recipes for the sauteed mushrooms and braised onions. (Hey, if you're going to do it, you may as well go whole hog, right?)

In the beginning, everything starts off so neat and orderly...which is a stretch at best for me. Despite my new love of cooking, I don't always prep-cook as well as I should and had to call my hubby, TK, in for reinforcements. (He got the job of peeling the little onions, ha!) One of these days I'll sit down and read the recipe in its entirety before I start throwing stuff into a pan and flying by the seat of my pants.

Eventually this dish gives you a bit of a reprieve as the meat is cooking in the oven....which is plenty of time to do up the mushrooms and onions properly. (Don't skip this part, it's definitely worth it!)

All in all, bouef bourguignon isn't all that difficult to achieve, just time consuming. Would I make it again? You bet!...it is as spectacular as it's made out to be. The beef is fork tender, there is no over-powering wine flavour, and the sauce is simply to die for. Make sure to serve this dish with something that will sop up the juice (such as mashed potatoes, like we did). We're not wine drinkers so TK paired this meal with a La Terrible beer from Unibroue: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22/3635/ . Based on the contented sighs and the odd belch, I'd say it was a great pairing!