This recipe takes a long time but it’s well worth it.
Beef Bourguingnon
4 lb. bottom round roast
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium sweet onions, sliced
6 ounces tomato paste
bottle of red wine
4 cups beef broth
8 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled
sprig of bay leaves (or 3-4 dried)
handful of thyme leaves
1 pound Russian fingerlings or other small potatoes
2 cups chopped carrot
2 cups chopped celery
salt and black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup flour
hot cooked rice
Preheat the oven to 300 F.
Season the meat with salt and pepper. In a heavy Dutch oven, brown the meat in olive oil, over medium-high heat, on all sides (about 2 minutes per side). If there is a fat cap, start and end on that side. Add the onions and tomato paste on the final turn, stirring to get the fond of the bottom of the pot. Pour in wine and broth, add garlic and bay sprig. Bring to a simmer, cover, and transfer to the oven for 3 hours.
After three hours, add carrots, celery, potatoes, and thyme. Return the pot, covered, to the oven for a further 90 minutes at 350F.
Transfer the meat to a cutting board. Break up the potatoes. Whip the butter and flour together. Bring the pot back to a simmer on the stove top and stir in the butter/flour mixture a little at a time. Let simmer as you slice the meat thinly, across the grain. Remove pot from heat, ladle vegetable mixture over rice and top with slices of meat.