We’re on our way to my in-laws in Saint Malo for New Year’s Weekend and I thought since I won’t be cooking for the blog but will be cooking with my mother-in-law, the best way to tell everyone Happy New Years would be by offering you a great tune to drink wine and cook to. Thanks for all of the mails, comments, facebook interaction and inspiration throughout 2011. I wish you a magical 2012 full of great food and even better company. Until next year…. Epicure on a Budget.

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© 2011, Epicure on a Budget. All rights reserved.

Some recipes and notes coming this week after I recover from the Christmas meal induced coma.

Stuffed and glazed filet mignon de Porc with creamy polenta, candied apples and asparagus

I used girolles, pecans, fresh thyme, dried sage and roquefor cheese in my stuffing this year. Here it is in the pan before stuffing the pork with it.

Making the candied apples. I used my favourite apple, Adriane and left the beautiful red skin on for aesthetic

Stuffed (to the max) and tied then topped with rosmary and baked in my creuset

Sourcream and Speculoos Cheesecake topped with Cognac Cherries (I soaked them in homemade cognac syrup and then reduced the syrup further before serving to spoon over each slice). You don't see the syrup in this photo because I added it after photographing.

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© 2011, Epicure on a Budget. All rights reserved.

I’ve been working on my first and of course, customized beef bourguignon for the past 16 hours or so. I started late yesterday evening with the intention of serving it for dinner tonight. That 24 hours always gives dishes like this the time they need to fuse flavours. It’s alchemical Cooking Magic. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t read about 15 different recipes and then create my own version, with a twist. Beef Bourguignon is proving to be no different. For my recipe I decided to add cognac, herbs that other recipes don’t call for, Violet Dijon mustard and yes…M &S Brown Sauce.

The final results - It's worth the wait!

Here’s the recipe

Ingredients

3 cups red wine from the Bourgogne region  – That’s Burgandy for you Americans

1 cup Cognac

1 1/4 cup Marks & Spencer’s Brown Sauce – you can use HP Brown Sauce as well, they’re essentially the same

2 cups of water

4 very thick bacon slices – if you can’t find that, use 10 normal size slices of breakfast bacon

1 rounded tablespoon of estragon

4 Bay leaves

1 rounded tablespoon of sage

1 red onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 rounded tablespoons of violet Dijon Mustard -  you can simply use normal Dijon if you can’t find the violet. I just happened to  have it in the kitchen, otherwise I would use normal Dijon

3 carrots, chopped into large chunks

3 parsnips, chopped into large chunks

4 large beef bouillon cubes

1 1/2  lbs beef tenderloin – I prefer using a highly marbled, tender beef.

Directions

1. Bring the 2 cups of water to a boil and add the 4 beef brouillon cubes (use large cubes!), allowing the cubes to dissolve. Set aside

2. Wash and peel carrots and parsnips, then cut them into large chunks

3. Dice onion

4. Crush garlic cloves

5. In a sauce pan with a bit of butter, soften the onions and garlic

6. In another sauce pan, slightly brown the bacon and keep all of the fat. You should not completely cook the bacon, only slightly brown the edges. You will add the bacon and it’s fat to your sauce. The fat is imperative.

7. Cut up your beef into pieces – then lightly brown it being careful  not to cook it at all beyond the browning. You don’t want your meat overcooked and the beef will be heated up a few times in this process

8. In a casserole dish (make sure to  use with with a tight cover! I used my Creuset) – add the beef  pieces, carrots, parsnips, softened garlic and onions, bacon (plus all of it’s fat), wine, cognac, brown sauce, estragon, sage, bay leaves and the water with the bouillon that you already prepared.

9. Cover and bake at 300° F for about 20 minutes or until the fluid is bubbling (you will have to check this)

10. Then open the oven for a couple of minutes and reduce the temperature to 150°F

11. Close oven and bake for another 20 minutes

12. Then remove from oven and allow to cool completely before putting it in the refridgerator

13. Keep in refrigerator over night and until the next evening

When you are ready to eat it do the following

1. Strain all of the liquid off of the meat and vegetables – set the beef and vegetables to the side but leave the bacon in the fluid

2. Over high heat, reduce the liquid by 50%. Making a reduction thickens the sauce and intensifies the flavour – you should have a creamy, thicker consistancy to your red wine sauce after reduction

3. Reduce the heat to a low simmer, add just the carrots and parsnips back to the sauce (because they will not be tender enough after you only cooked them on low temps the night before), COVER and simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes

4. At the very end, add the beef pieces back to the fluid just to warm them to to eating temperature (you don’t want to overcook the beef!)

Serve over pasta, rice or potatoes. I’m proud to say that the flavour of my bourguignon sauce is the best I have ever tried. Ahh, I LOVE it when things work out like this!

Right out of the oven

The vegetable ingredients

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© 2011, Epicure on a Budget. All rights reserved.