My favorite season... Winter... is coming again soon enough, and with it I can make all those slow cooked meals that take hours in the oven and permeat the house with those wonderful smells. No worries about overheating the house, no worries about wasting time minding the stove that could be better spent outside.
Four of my favorites are braised beef dishes. A little more complicated than a simple beef pot roast or stew, but really not too much more effort. These clbuttics are:
- Sauerbraten - Beef Paupiettes-Rouladen - Carbonnades a la Flamande-Beef with Beer and Onions - Boeuf Bourguignon-Beef Burgundy-Beef with Red Wine, Mushrooms and Onions
I couldn't quite wait for the cooler weather, so I made my first one of these this season on Friday. It was supposed to be cooler (ended up being in the 70s). But it was raining cats and dogs (we got over 7 inches of rain in two days), and the beef and mushrooms were on sale. And I had my newly acquired (but 40 years old) Descoware (enameled cast iron) buffet cbutterole I wanted to try out.
I made the beef burgundy basically by using the recipe in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". One can always improvise. I used an Australian shiraz instead of one of the French wines suggested in the recipe. Julia Child suggested perhaps subsbreastuting a Chianti. I guess I really went out on a limb with the shiraz... but somehow I don't think that was an option she had back in 1961! ;-) It came out great... well worth the effort.
If you haven't made these before, I encourage you to do so. They all certainly qualify as "comfort food", and all are great reheated the next day. The sauerbraten and rouladen were dishes my German born father made since I was a kid. He's been gone a couple of years now, but making them sure brings back the memories. The first time I made the rouladen I knew I got the recipe right... as the smell exactly duplicated what I remembered going back over 40 years. I'm glad I bothered to get the recipe from my father before it was too late. And I know it really brightened his day when I told him about actually making it myself the first time.
