Boeuf bourguignon is French people favorite beef stew made out of red wine, mushrooms, carrots, onions and aromatics with a twist! Served with pasta instead of potatoes. Because why not? right?
Boeuf bourguignon on spaghetti is a “mashup” dish, the usual ‘boeuf bourguignon’ or beef bourguignon is great with potatoes, but if you want to try something new, try this on pasta! It’s better then Bolognese my friend! I like potatoes… but my husband not so much… so he always ask me to make his boeuf bourguignon on pasta. I have to agree with him on this; with pasta it’s gives the dish a whole new dimension.
But either ways, the base of the recipe stays the same; braised beef cubes in a dutch oven cooked slowly in a red wine sauce. So you decide which between pasta or potatoes makes you salivate more. Also I’ve had my little Spanish touch by making a “picada” (last minutes seasoning) with parsley, garlic and olive oil just to give it a last fresh kick.
Boeuf bourguignon on pasta The beef cubes, I’ve bought, were pre-cut quite small, about 2-3cm large which isn’t ideal (in pictures), try to get bigger cubes of 5 cm, then when you’ll go in for a bite you’ll see the tender beef cubes fall apart and that experience brings so much more appeal to the dish. Also another important part is to season and sear good your beef pieces at first, make sure the pot you use is hot enough at the beginning, don’t put too many pieces at the time and resist the urge of moving the cubes too early while searing.
So let’s make that delicious beef stew the French cannot get enough of!
Boeuf bourguignon
Makes 4 portions
Ingredients
- 400g of beef cubes of 5cm ideally
- 100g of fresh bacon bits
- 500ml (2 cups) of red wine
- 2 big carrots into slices
- 1 onion sliced or (or 6-7 pearl onions)
- 1 garlic clove finely sliced
- Bouquet garni (thyme, laurel, pepper, clove)
- 3 tbsp of flour
- 4 tbsp of olive oil
- 250g of button mushrooms cut into quarter
- salt, pepper
The picada *optional (goes at the end of coccion)
- a few flat leaf parsley
- 1/2 a garlic clove
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
- salt
Directions
- In a large dutch oven, bring to high heat.
- Salt and pepper the meat
- When hot, add the olive oil and the beef, sear each side of the beef cubes until light brown (not too many at the time)
- When the cubes are done, add the bacon for a min
- Then cover lightly with flour over the meat and a touch more of olive oil
- Let cook the flour for a minute
- Add the red wine and mix well making sure the bottom is well scratched with a wooden spoon
- Add the onion, carrots, garlic, bouquet garni and bring to a boil
- Cover and turn the heat to low (or in the oven at 170°C (340f))
- Let simmer slowly for about 2 hours
- Add the mushrooms 30 minutes before the end of cooking
- Add salt, pepper
- Make the optional “picada” with all it’s ingredients in a mortar, add to the beef bourguignon 2 minutes before the end of cooking
Serve on the pasta of your choice!
Enjoy!
