Another tasty meal from Rachael Ray's "Week in a Day" show. I bookmarked this a WHILE ago and just got around to making it. It was cold this week, so I decided to give it a shot. The original recipe
Mushroom and Burgundy Stew, didn't have any protein in it, so I decided to try it with beef tenderloin tips - they were on sale this week - YEAH! Don't get me wrong, the ratio of mushrooms to beef cubes was 2 mushroom : 1 beef cube, plus I used baby bellas (aka cremini), so the mushroom mouth-feel was a bit meatier.
My start time: 4pm; My end time 7:30pm
Rachael Ray's Prep Time: 20-30 mins; Cook time: 45 mins
1. I started by cutting 4 oz pancetta slices into pieces appx 3/4 inch squares - hrmmm wonder where I can get the pancetta in chunks like I see on Giada's show - it was a little difficult to separate the pieces after I had stacked and sliced them. Add 1/4 cup olive oil to your dutch oven and warm to medium-high heat and add the pancetta pieces.
2. After the pancetta was browned and had rendered some fat into my
Lodge Color 3-Quart Dutch Oven
, I added appx 8 oz beef tips and browned them on all sides.
3. While the beef tips were browning, I wiped 16 oz baby bellas, and then halved them. Some of the beef tips were a little larger than "bite size", so I pulled them out after they were par-cooked and cut them into 2-3 pieces
.
Switch cutting boards.
4. Add the mushrooms to the pot and let cook until until brown and tender - about 15 minutes or so.
5. Add the carrots, onions, celery, garlic, bay leaves, salt, pepper, marjoram, and thyme.
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| The mushroom-beef stew players |
6. Cover and cook/simmer until vegetables are tender - about 10 minutes
7. Stir in 3 tbsp flour for 1 minute to incorporate.
8. Add 2 tbsp tomato paste and 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
9. Add 2 1/2 cups dry red wine (always use wine you would drink - none of that "cooking wine" you buy in the grocery store) and reduce by half - this took me maybe 20 minutes
10. Add 4 cups beef stock. BGS purchased
Mushroom Base
for me to use with this recipe, so I added 4 tsp of the base to the beef stock and dissolved it the best I could before adding it to the pot. Simmer to thicken.
11. Cool completely on the stove and then store in the fridge for your make ahead-meal.
As you can see by my start and end times, I was in the kitchen longer than my tv counterpart. I chock that up to me not chopping often and not having a great deal of counter space.
*shakes fist at the horrible kitchen arrangement*
12. On the day you want to serve your stew, take it out of the fridge and bring it to a simmer in the dutch oven while you boil water for your noodles. I chose whole wheat egg noodles. Cook your chosen noodles according to the directions on the package and then drain. Put the noodles back in the pot; add 2 tbsp butter and a handful of fresh parsley, chopped.
To serve, dish noodles into a soup plate or shallow dish and then ladle stew over the noodles.
All in all I LOVE this meal! BGS said it was too rich, so he only ate it twice. That's fine. More for me :)
We got four servings from this meal - so he ate it once and I ate it 3 times. YUM!! BGS also said it was "ruined" by the whole wheat noodles hehe - I wasn't phased by them.
