#3 Vive La France

Today we took our inspiration from the country that we live in - France.  I had planned to invite some friends round, but considering the fact that the night before, between five of us, we consumed twelve bottles of Pouilly-Fumé over a late lunch in Les Pipos in the 5th arrondissement, none of us were really feeling up to it.  But, because I had started preparing the meat in a still semi-drunk state early this morning, I decided to make it and have it for a late dinner.











The Menu

Starter - Escargots avec sauce beurre, ail et persil (Snails in garlic and parsley butter)
Main Course - Boeuf Bourgignon, puree de patates, haricots verts, roti carrottes (Beef Bourgignon, creamy mashed potatoes, green beans and roasted carrots)
Dessert - Crème Brûlée

Boeuf Bourgignon is a classic French beef and red wine stew, slowly cooked for several hours. This needs to be cooked for a minimum of three hours, but the longer that you can leave it the better. It's the perfect dish to cook on a lazy Sunday because once you put it in the oven you can basically just leave it there as long as you like, and doesn't really take a lot of effort to prepare.







The Verdict

This meal has been my favourite so far. I absolutely LOVE snails, their garlicky butteryness is just amazing. The beef was delicious, I cooked it for almost six hours and the meat was literally falling apart  when you put your fork in it, and the crème brûlée was light, egg custardy and just the perfect way to top off the meal. This meal got top marks, ten out of ten!







We ate our dessert as we listened to Edith Piaf's rousing rendition of the French national anthem La Marseillaise, which I think is my favourite national anthem that I have heard – and then washed it all down with French beer Kronenbourg 1664.

Due to time constraints and feeling slightly hungover, I bought the snails and crème brûlée from the local supermarket. The crème brûlée looked relatively easy to make but I just didn't have the time. However, I will add a link for a home made recipe for this at the bottom of the page.

Recipes:

Boeuf Bourgignon

To make this you will need:

• 1kg of stewing beef or braising steak
• 1 bottle of red wine (choose a pretty decent wine because this is where a lot of the flavour comes from – I used a bottle of Saint Emilion)
• 2  largely sliced onions
• 250g of lardons (or streaky bacon/pancetta)
• bouquet garni
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 pint of beef stock
• 1 tbsp of plain flour
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. To start, cut the beef into bite-size chunks, then put in a large bowl. Add the bouquet garni, bay leaves and full bottle of red wine and let this stand for as long as you can (preferably overnight but for one hour at least).
2. Remove the beef from the marinade but ensure you keep all of the liquid because this is going to make the sauce/gravy in the stew.
3. Add the beef into a clean, dry bowl and add the flour. Stir thoroughly, ensuring all of the beef has a good coating of flour.
4. Add the oil to the pan on a medium heat, and then gently brown all of the beef. Next add the lardons or bacon and the onions and fry together with the beef for a few minutes.
5. Pour the wine, bay leaves and bouquet garni back onto the meat and add the beef stock. Bring this to the boil, and make sure you scrape any bits of flour or bacon that might be stuck to the bottom of the pan.
6. Put the lid on your pan and transfer to the oven 160 degrees, for a minimum of three hours, until the beef is tender.

Hint – if when you remove it from the oven and the sauce is not thick enough, try putting back in the oven without the lid for about 20 minutes, or put on the hob and add a couple of teaspoons of cornflour loosened off with water, and simmer until the desired thickness is achieved.

Serve with creamy mashed potatoes, green beans and roasted carrots.

Crème Brûlée

Where I bought the ingredients from:

Fresh vegetables from Marché Ledru-Rollin, and any French supermarket for the snails and crème brûlée.

To discover your neighbourhood market click here.