serves 6 to 8
This recipe is from Ina Garten’s The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. First I want to say, this is not something to try and prepare after working a long day. This, along with traditional Jambalaya, is one of the more complex and time consuming recipes that I am still willing to tackle since the end result is quite good. I have a few stories to share from making this recipe over many years, but first I want to say that this is a good dinner party dish since you can make it in advance and refrigerate it in the pan. When you are ready to serve, you just heat the filets and sauce up over low heat for about ~15 minutes.
So stories…
My youngest daughter asked for this every birthday as her birthday dinner since she was like 4 or 5 years old. It would crack me up ’cause how many kids can say/remember Beef Bourguignon?
The first time I made this the we were still house poor and a hefty chunk of my grocery bill was going towards diapers and formula. I remember ordering the 3lb filet of beef from the butcher and then staring in shocked disbelief at the $50 label. Which is a good segue into my next story. My aunt and uncle were visiting and I mentioned that I was cooking beef bourguignon for dinner; they didn’t look to excited. Later when we were eating, my uncle said “wow, this is good, restaurants usually use an inferior cut of beef when they make this“.
The last story is funny, and something we’ve probably all done at least once. This recipe starts with creating the sauce, the most time consuming part. You add tons of ingredients, stir and simmer, and then finally you strain the sauce to get rid of the thyme leaves, keeping the sauce to continue on to the next steps. I had company coming for dinner and when I strained my sauce, I forgot to strain it into a bowl and just strained it into the sink.
Ingredients
- 1 3 lb filet of beef, trimmed
- Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
- 3 to 4 TBL good olive oil
- ¼ lb bacon, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 ½ cups good dry red wine, such as Burgundy or Chianti (I have used Merlot and/or Cabernet Sauvignon)
- 2 cups beef stock (I use Better than Bouillon Beef)
- 1 TBL tomato paste (I use Amore Double-Concentrated Tomato Paste that comes in a tube like toothpaste)
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
- 1 3-pound filet of beef, trimmed
- Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
- 3 to 4 TBL good olive oil
- ¼ pound bacon, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1½ cups good dry red wine, such as Burgundy or Chianti (I have used Merlot and/or Cabernet Sauvignon)
- 2 cups beef stock (I use Better than Bouillon Beef)
- 1 TBL tomato paste (I use Amore Double-Concentrated Tomato Paste that comes in a tube like toothpaste)
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
- ½ pound pearl onions, peeled (tip: to peel the onions easily, blanch them for 2 minutes in boiling water. Let cool before handling)
- 8 to 10 carrots, cut diagonally into 1-inch thick slices
- 3 TBL unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2 TBL all-purpose flour
- ½ pound mushrooms, sliced ¼ inch thick (domestic or wild)
Instructions
- Cut the filet crosswise into 1-inch thick slices
- Salt and pepper the filets on both sides
- In a large, heavy-bottomed pan on medium-high heat, sauté the slices of beef in batches with 2 to 3 TBL oil until browned on the outside and very rare inside, ~2 to 3 minutes on each side.
- Remove filets from the pan and set aside on a platter
- In the same pan, sauté the bacon on medium-low heat for 5 minutes, until browned and crisp.
- Remove bacon and set it aside. Drain all the fat, except 2 TBL, from the pan.
- Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds
- Deglaze the pan with the red wine and cook on high heat for 1 minutes, scrapping the bottom of the pan.
- Add the beef stock, tomato paste, thyme, 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper.
- Bring to a boil and cook uncovered on medium-high heat for 10 minutes
- Strain the sauce and return it to the pan ← don’t forget to catch the sauce!
- Add the onions and carrots and simmer uncovered for 20 to 30 minutes, until sauce is reduced and the vegetables are cooked.
- With a fork mash 2 TBL butter and the flour into a paste and whisk it gently into the sauce
- Simmer for 2 minutes to thicken
- Meanwhile, sauté the mushrooms separately in 1 TBL butter and 1 TBL oil for about 10 minutes, until browned and tender.
- Add the filet of beef slices, the mushrooms, and the bacon to the pan with the vegetables and sauce. ← This is where you could prep ahead to. At this point you’d take the pan out of the fridge that has the veggies and sauce, add the filets and then reheat for 10-15 minutes instead of 5-10.
- Cover and reheat gently for 5-10 minutes. Do not overcook.
- Season to taste and serve immediately