beef' "daube a la provencale."

 I have not posted to my blog for a very long time. I did not have a laptop anymore .I just had a little tablet and it was not easy to work on it. yeah I have my laptop back. .
It has been very chilly in South Carolina so it is a good time to make comfort food. I had some stew meat so I decided to make a beef " Daube".

A "daube" is a stew made with red wine and different vegetables and Braised for 2 or 3 hours. like all braised meat it permits to used the part of the meat that are tought. it is very easy to make and not expensive

The daube used to be made in a "daubiere" beautiful container made of Terra cota . Maman Jean my grand mother who used to make "Daube "very often  did not have a "Daubiere"  she used a "cocote" ou "Faitout" . these saucepans were made to cook food slowly. I wish I had a daubiere they are so beautiful, but I don't have one so I used my black iron pan which is perfect. The idea is to have a heavy pan that does not permit evaporation. if you don't have a pan that has a tightly fitting cover it is always possible to put a piece of foil between the pan and the cover . now let's go to our daube.

 ingredients

1bl of beef stew meat cut in square cubes between 2 or 3 inches. it is better to have a meat with a little fat
1 large onion
3  carrots diced
1 strip orange peel ( without any pith)
1 bay leave
 a few peppercorn ( if you have)
about 3/4 of a cup of red wine
2 tbls olive oil
about 3 or 4 slices of bacon cut in small pieces.
2 garlic cloves
1 cup beef or chicken stock.
salt and ground pepper
I almost forget the olive that make the Daube really provencale.

marinade

Slice  the onion
clean the carrots and slice   (   keep I/2 of the carrots for the daube)
put the meat and the vegetables in a deep bowl ( not in a metal bowl)
add the orange peel
the bay leaves and peppercorn ( or pepper)
one garlic clove
add the wine
cover the bowl and put it in the refrigerator overnight.

preparation

the following day heat the oven to 300 degrees
  drain the wine .
separate the meat from vegetables
in the casserole  add  the olive oil and brown the bacon
remove the bacon and brown the meat.

add the wine and simmer 5 minutes

Put the bacon back in the pan
add the slice carrots and the garlic
the rosemary , the thyme and the bay leaves.
add a little more of the orange zest
add the olives
add the stock or the water
salt and pepper
bring to a quick boil
cover the casserole and put it in the preheated oven.

cook  for 2  or 3 hours . ( check the meat for tenderness)

Remove the bay leaves the thyme and rosemary.

 Serve with Pasta potatoes or polenta.
I like mine with boiled potatoes.

a table bon appetite

Notes.

_ You may use the vegetables you used in the marinade for the Daube but I like to add new carrots  so they are not so soggy.and I don't like the big sclices of onion. it is up to you.
_ you could marinate the meat only 6 hours if you don't want to wait overnight.
_Do not forget to add the zest of orange it really give the Daube  a special little provencal taste.
_The size of the pieces of meat as you see on the first picture , were a little small, it was the beef I already had in my refrigerator , it is better to use   pieces of meat of 2 or 3 inches.

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