Food- Recipe for Beef Bourguignon

After watching "Julie and Julia" I was motivated to learn how to cook (like everyone else who has ever watched this movie). However, learning to cook by following Julia Child's recipes in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" seems a bit like learning to swim by diving into the ocean. After practicing my cooking skills for weeks on easier recipes, I thought that I was ready for a challenge... Julia Child's most famous recipe, Beef Bourguignon. After a few trials, here is my version of a simpler and easier to follow recipe for Beef Bourguignon, enjoy!

Beef Bourguignon

(Serves 8-10: great for dinner parties)

Ingredients:

• 3 lb. Beef chuck-boneless and trimmed of excess fat
• Bacon-thick sliced and cut into 1/2 inch strips
• 1 large white onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, diced
• 2 oz. flour
• 1/4 cup of tomato paste
• 2 1/2 cups of red wine
• 1 1/2 cups beef broth
• Sachet: 1 bay leaf, 1 sprig of thyme, 8 peppercorns (tied up by a small piece of cheesecloth)
• 8 oz. mushroom caps, chopped into quarters
• 8 oz. pearl onions, whole

Directions:

1. Cut the beef into 1 inch cubes
2. Cook the bacon strips in a dutch oven under medium heat until crispy, and then remove the bacon strips and save later for garnish
3. Heat the bacon fat until is starts to smoke and brown the beef on all sides (the outside of the beef should be a little charred)
4. Add the onion and cook until lightly brown
5. Add the garlic and cook for one minute more (be careful not to overcook, otherwise the garlic will become bitter)
6. Add the flour to thicken up the sauce and cook over high heat until slightly browned
7. Stir in tomato paste, wine and broth and bring to a boil and keep stirring until the sauce thickens
8. Add the sachet
9. Cover and place in the oven at 325 degrees for about 2 hours
10. Brown the mushrooms with 2 tablespoons of butter
11. Brown the onions with 2 tablespoons of butter (the mushrooms and onions should be browned separately)
12. After two hours when the meat is tender, remove the sachet and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper
13. Thicken up the sauce over high heat and stir in the reserved bacon, browned mushrooms and browned pearl onions. 

Serve over noodles.