Beef Daube Provençal

Fall is here and I for one could not be happier! As much as I love the sunshine, I had missed the cool, crisp mornings and stormy evenings. And of course I missed pots of soup and comforting meals hot from the oven. So goodbye summer salads and hello fallish flavors and comfort food.

I suppose this is nothing more than a glorified beef stew, but it’s a top notch version of beef stew. And who doesn’t love beef stew anyway? The wine and slow cooking give this dish a rich, full flavor that really can’t be beat. And serving it over noodles? Pure genius. They soak up the extra juices, elevating this “stew” to fork food. It doesn’t take much time to throw together, but plan ahead for this one since it cooks 2-3 hours in the oven. It’s well worth the wait. And hey, if you get bored, there’s always the rest of that bottle of wine to keep you busy.

Beef Daube Provençal

Beef Daube Provençal
(from Cooking Light)

2 tsp. olive oil
12 garlic cloves, crushed
1 (2 pound) boneless chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 2 inch cubes
1 1/4 tsp. salt, divided
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper, divided
1 cup red wine
2 cups chopped carrots
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1/2 cup beef broth
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
Dash of ground cloves
1 (14.5) can diced tomatoes
1 bay leaf
3 cups cooked medium egg noodles

Preheat oven to 300°. Heat a small Dutch oven over low heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add garlic; cook 5 minutes or until garlic is fragrant, stirring occasionally. Remove garlic with a slotted spoon; set aside. Increase heat to medium-high. Add beef to pan (you may need to do this in batches so you don’t overcrowd the meat); sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove beef from pan. Add wine to pan; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add reserved garlic, beef, remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, carrots, and next 8 ingredients (through bay leaf), and bring to a boil. Cover and bake at 300° for 2 1/2 hours or until beef is tender. Discard bay leaf. Serve over noodles.

Note: To make in a slow cooker, prepare through Step 2. Place beef mixture in an electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 5 hours or until beef is tender.

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Classic Steak Dinner

Usually when I have a night on my own I am pretty lazy about dinner.  Leftovers, a sandwich, or take out are the norm.  But every once in a while, I like to make something nice just for me.  I don’t eat a whole lot of red meat these days, so a steak is a special treat.  Ribeyes are my favorite, but choose whatever you like best.  I rounded it out with fresh broccoli and absolutely delicious roasted potato “chips.” A glass (or two) of juicy pinot noir and dark chocolate for dessert and I was a happy girl.  And if you’re not on your own, this is a nice meal to share too.

Steak with Wine & Mushrooms

Ribeye Steak with Wine & Mushrooms

Ribeye Steak (or whatever cut you prefer)
Sea salt & coarsely ground pepper
1/4 tsp. raw sugar
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup red wine

Rub steak with salt, pepper & sugar.  Heat pan to medium high.  Melt the butter in the pan until bubbly.  Add steak to the pan.  I like my steak rare, so I cook mine about 3 minutes on each side.  If you like it done a little more, you may need to do 4-5 minutes per side.  Remove from pan and set on a plate to rest while you cook the mushrooms.  (Even if you don’t like mushrooms and choose to have your steak plain, let it rest a few minutes anyway, it will be more juicy!)  In the same pan you cooked the steak, over medium high heat add the mushrooms, sprinkle with a little salt & pepper and add wine to the pan.  Bring to a boil and saute a few minutes until the wine begins to evaporate.  When most of the wine has disappeared, remove from heat and stir in the other 1/2 tbsp. butter.  Pour mushrooms over the steak and serve immediately.

Roasted Potato “Chips”

Roasted Potato “Chips”

Yukon Gold potatoes
Olive oil
Sea salt & freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400˚.  Slice potatoes thinly (about 1/8 inch thick).  Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray it with cooking spray.  Lay out the potato slices in a single layer.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt & pepper.  Cook for about 20 minutes until starting to brown on top.  Taste one (carefully!) to see if they are as crispy as you like.  I prefer mine crispy on the edges but still chewy.  Cook a little longer if you want them more crunchy.

Not Quite My Grandma’s Pot Roast

Sunday dinners at my Grandpa & Grandma Percival’s house when I was growing up almost always followed the same menu.  Pot roast with potatoes, corn, salad and a weird jello and fruit concoction that still shows up at every family dinner even though no one seems to actually like it.  My grandma was never really known for her cooking, but I always loved this meal.  To this day, pot roast is one of my favorite foods.

What my grandma is really known for is her frugality.  I wish I had absorbed a little more of that, but one thing I did learn from her was how to make the most of inexpensive ingredients in the kitchen.  She could take what was probably the cheapest, toughest piece of meat and turn it into something wonderful.  Her secret?  Give it a good sear on the stovetop, then in the oven for a nice, slow cook at a low temperature.  It doesn’t seem to matter what kind of roast you start out with, the results are always perfectly tender and flavorful.

Grandma usually just used a little water or broth for cooking liquid.  I’m sure she would gasp in horror at wasting wine in this manner, but I love the extra flavor it lends to the meat and veggies and it makes it all even more tender.  The meat just falls apart and melts in your mouth.  I love the way carrots taste when they are cooked with it, and it seems like we always fought over the carrots so I put in a lot.  You can add potatoes too if you have room in your cooking pot, or just cook them separately.  I wanted garlic smashed potatoes to go with this to make the most of the gravy, so I did them on the stovetop by themselves while everything else cooked in the oven.

By the way, this also cooks nicely in a slow cooker if you don’t have time for this method.  I still sear the meat on the stove, then add all ingredients to the crock pot (cut cooking liquid in half).  Cook on low all day.

Not Quite My Grandma’s Pot Roast

Not Quite My Grandma’s Pot Roast

Chuck roast (or any kind of beef roast, whatever size you want, I usually use a 1-2 pound roast for my little family)
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. dried rosemary
2 tbsp. butter
1 cup red wine
1 onion, sliced
2-4 cups baby carrots

Sprinkle roast with salt, pepper and rosemary and rub all over.

Pot Roast, rubbed with spices and searing in melted butter on the stove.

Heat a dutch oven over medium high heat and add butter to pan.  Swirl around to coat the pan and add the roast.  Cook 2-3 minutes until there is a good sear on the bottom, then using tongs or a fork, turn roast over and sear the other side for 2-3 minutes.

Seared to perfection.

Heat oven to 350˚.  Sprinkle onion slices on top of the roast and pour wine over the whole thing.

Ready to go in the oven.

Cover and place in oven.  Cook for 1 hour.  Add carrots (and potatoes, if you want) to the pan and cover again. Reduce heat to 250˚.  Cook another 2 hours at least.

Remove roast and veggies and put on a serving platter, reserving juice in the pan.

To make gravy:  In a small bowl or cup mix 1 cup water or milk (I usually use half of each) with 1 tbsp. cornstarch using a fork or whisk until there are no lumps.  Bring reserved roast juices to a boil, scraping any bits of stuff off the bottom and sides of the pan as well.  Add cornstarch mixture and stir constantly with a whisk until thickened.  Taste and add salt & pepper if needed.  Serve with roast and veggies.

One of my favorite dinners of all time. Pot roast with carrots and garlic smashed potatoes & gravy.