Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

I realize that I may be dwelling on it (hello, extreme aversion to failure) but do you remember that spectacularly failed beef stew I made a couple weeks ago? Well, that very same day I had actually decided to make Boeuf Bourguignon for a small Valentine weekend get together at our house. What better way to kick off our first dinner party than to serve the most epic dish I have made to date? It's perfect because it serves 6, is super delicious and will CERTAINLY erase the feelings of inadequacy I have pertaining to anything remotely related to beef stew. And of course, just to prove to you all that I did it and that it was delicious yet again, I have pictures! It just goes to show that Julia Child was incredible: if the recipe is good, anybody can do it... without inadvertently charring anything.

It took me a bit longer because I had to blanche my bacon to get rid of the smokey flavour first.

Drying off my blanched bacon.

Sliced up into thin strips and browned.

Browning my (rinsed and patted dry) meat in batches.



Softening the carrots and onions.


Browning the pearl onions at the end of the beef's cooking time.

The browned mushrooms, to be added along with the pearl onions.

Ready to eat!
If you plan on serving Boeuf Bourguignon for a dinner party, I suggest that you make it the day before, that way you are relaxed while preparing and cooking, and you won't smell like food when your guests arrive! Plus, as Julia Child mentions, it tastes even better the next day after the complex flavours have fully infused the dish. Mmm, so good! This time I served it with light, yummy egg noodles, fresh, crusty bread, and we had fabulous guests who brought delicious red wine -one bottle of which was made by someone's dad, so cool! I was going to make ice cream sandwiches for dessert, but one of our said fabulous guests brought us CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES. They were so luscious, I wish I had taken pictures, but I just really wanted to eat them, sorry. What a perfect Valnetine's Day dessert. Since I have no pictures of the pretty strawberries, I won't disappoint you, here's a picture of something else:



Hooray for not burning anything and hooray for great company! http://www.oprah.com/food/Boeuf-Bourguignon

By the way, Happy 21st Birthday to my brother-in-law! And happy 7th birthday to my little friend Emmett!

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