Day: November 20, 2016

Yes please!

My birthday is coming up, so I’m debating where to go for a special lunch or dinner. My first thought was fish tacos @ The Combine Eatery on the Danforth. Southern California-style, with basa fish (grilled or fried). I swear some day I’ll be healthy and try the grilled fish. Friends swear the grilled basa is awesome, but it’s hard to turn down fried when it’s right there on the menu. (In my defence, it’s lightly fried.)

But then this recipe for creamed spinach landed in my inbox this morning, and I started thinking about a traditional steak dinner (like at Ruth’s Chris) with creamed spinach on the side.

http://damndelicious.net/2016/11/18/easy-creamed-spinach/

Dilemmas, dilemmas.

 

By popular demand (and by “popular”, I mean “Mary Jane”), here is my* beef burgundy recipe, which is divine, esp. Day Two, and is best served with whipped potatoes.

*Adapted from a diabetic cookbook of the 1990s, if I recall. My father-in-law Max made the same recipe, with his own twists.

Beef Burgundy

5-6 slices of bacon

2+ cups onions, coarsely chopped

2 lbs (1 kg) lean stewing beef

2 tbsp flour

1 tsp salt

½ tsp each of thyme, marjoram, and herbes de provence

¼ tsp each ground pepper, garlic powder

1 ½ cups red wine (hearty, like a cabernet sauvignon)

1 ½ cups beef broth

Beef bovril to taste (for beefier taste)

1 tbsp tomato paste

½ lb+ mushrooms, coarsely chopped

Steps:

1. Fry bacon slices in heavy and deep sauté pan until crisp.  (Mary Jane and I favour our Le Creuset French oven)

2. Remove bacon from pan when crisp – towel off grease & crumble. Put aside.

3. Fry chopped onions in bacon grease until tender. Remove to another bowl and set aside.

4. Brown stewing beef (in 1 inch cubes). When brown, add flour, herbs, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Stir fry for 1 minute.

5. Return bacon to pan. Stir in wine, beef broth and tomato paste.

6. Simmer, loosely covered, for 2 hours; stir occasionally. Liquid should almost (not quite) completely reduce – should be enough to coat mushrooms and onions (next step).

7. Add mushrooms and onions and continue to simmer for 20 more minutes.