Boeuf En Daube

My husband is a champion of anything French, having lived there for two years immersed in French verb conjugations, mo-ped acrobatics and patisseries, especially those that baked chaussons de pommes and palmiers.  As a young wife, eager to please, after having mastered crepes, I learned to make this rich beef stew, a younger sibling to the more mature and developed Beef Bourguignon.  But this entree is more colorful – thank you red peppers – and nestled on a bed of rice, nothing short of sophisticated, soul-soothing elegance.  Worthy of being the centerpiece, the piece de resistance of any buffet!

Bouef En Daube

3 pounds round of beef or chuck roast, trimmed of fat

¼ cup flour

1 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. salt

6 strips bacon

2 cloves garlic, minced

12 mushrooms, sliced

1 can beef consomme

2 cups red wine

12 pearl onions, sliced

12 small carrots, sliced

red bell pepper, skinned and sliced

6 peppercorns, slightly bruised

4 whole cloves

2 tab. fresh parsley, chopped

1 bay leaf, crumbled

1 tsp. salt

¼ tsp. dried marjoram

¼ tsp. dried thyme

-Cut beef into 1 ½ inch cubes.  Mix flour, pepper and 1 tsp. salt in plastic bag.  Add beef cubes and shake to coat the meat. 

-Fry bacon until brown in dutch oven.  Remove bacon from pot leaving fat.  Crumble into 1 inch pieces.  Set aside. 

-Add beef to pot and brown well on all sides keeping beef pieces from touching one another.  Add oil to pot as needed to facilitate browning.  Remove beef cubes from skillet as they are browned and add others. 

-Pour 1 cup wine into skillet and cook to remove bits from pan bottom (deglaze).  Place meat on top of bacon in the dutch oven.

-Brown mushrooms in skillet and layer over meat.  Pour consomme over ingredients in the pot.  Add onions, garlic, carrots, pepper, cloves, red pepper, parsley, bay leaf, 1 tsp. salt, marjoram and thyme.  Pour in remaining cup of wine.  Cover and bake at 300 degrees for 3 – 4 hours, stirring occasionally.  Serve over rice, garnished with additional chopped parsley.  Serves 8