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.

printable recipe
pprintable recipe

Oxtail stew

We are still having chilly days in SC so we can still enjoy some of these delicious braised dishes.
One of my favorite one is Oxtail stew. I make it very rarely because it is not always easy to find Oxtails. It is one of these old recipes that a lot of chefs in France love to work with I don't really think it is use so much in the States. It is supposed to be a cheaper piece of meat, but really it is not
always pretty expensive considering that you get a lot of fat and bones on an oxtail. It is very much made as an Osso Bucco which is traditionally made with veal shanks.
I love it. The meat is a bit gelatinous, and it has thi delicious little bits of meat and the mallow and the bone cooking very slowly give a rich taste to the stew. Now in France we say, " la queue de boeuf c'est bon mais c'est gras" (Oxtails are good but they are fat) so it is important to degreased the dish . This dish being very delicious rewarmed I like to cook it the day before and it makes it easy to be degreased after it has been in the refrigerator
I have seen very sophisticated recipe of oxtails by French chef, and they look so good. I would like to
 try them sometimes but here is the rustic old recipe just like "grandmere " used to make.


Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
4 lbs of oxtail
3 cloves of garlic
1 medium yellow onion
6 medium carrots
2 branches of celery
2 turnips if you have them. you don't have to eat them, but they really give a good taste to the stew.
2 cups red wine
5 cups beef stock.
1 can stew tomatoes
1 branch of thyme. ( you could use dry thyme)
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup flour.
4 tbsp. butter softened
salt and pepper.

Instructions

Clean and chopped the onion and garlic.
Clean and slice the celery and the carrots.
In a large saucepan heat the olive oil
season the oxtails with the salt and pepper
Sauté the meat in the hot pan, work in batches
Cook until well browned 8 or 10 minutes.
Keep the meat on the side
 In the same pan sauté the vegetables but not the carrots
cook about 10 minutes or till golden.
deglaze the pan with the wine cook about 4 or 5 minutes
Put the meat back in the pan
add the stock, the tomatoes bring to a boil.

Add the rosemary the thyme and the laurel leaves.
Bring down the heat and cook covered, slowly.
I like to put it in the oven at this point, but it can be cook on the top of the stove.
the oxtails must cook till the meat fall apart at least 3 hours.
when the oxtails are cook add the carrots and cook about 20 minutes.
when everything is cook mixed the softened butter to the flour.
Add a little of the sauce to the butter and flour and mix
Put back in the pot cook10 minutes.

I love Oxtail stew with mash potatoes but you can eat it with rice too. What ever you like the best.

Bon appetite MiamMiam

printing recipe










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I find some oxtail in Piggly Wiggly in my neighborhood and I could not resist.

braised short ribs.

Yeah I can now take pictures so here I am back on my blog.
Sunday afternoon I had to turn the air conditioner on and this morning I had to turn on the heat. To night I went to my great grand sons (Stephen and Jordan) soccer game and it was very cold. It is only October we may still have a few worm days but today it felt very much like winter. And we feel ready for nice comfort cold weather food. My daughter family  was at the game and they were very ready to go home and enjoyed chicken fricassee with dumplings and I was going home to the meal I cooked this afternoon "braised short ribs"
I have cooked different short ribs but this is my favorite recipe . I was inspired from a recipe from Anne Burrel which is one of my favorite chef on The food TV channel. I specially like the way she uses the vegetables in this recipe but here is the recipe.

Braised shorts ribs

ingredients
8 shorts ribs
olive oil
1 Spanish onion or leak
2 ribs celery
2 carrots
11/2cup tomato paste
2 or 3 cups win
2 cups water or chicken stock
1 bunch of fresh time
2 bay leaves

Instructions
In a dutch oven or any big pan brown the ribs, making sure you do not crowd them it is important that they should be nicely brown. Salt and pepper them
When they are well brown put them on side.
Prepare you vegetables clean them and chop them in big chunks
Put vegetables in food processor and puree them
 In  the same pan you browned the meat brown your vegetables till it form a crust in the bottom of the pan. mix the vegetables and scrap the bottom of the pan 2 or 3 times . The vegetables must be well browned

Add the tomatoes paste and continue browning and mixing a few minutes.
Add the wine and scrap the bottom of the pan a few time cooked for about 8 minutes
Put the ribs back in the pan and cover with chicken stock.
Add the thyme, the clove of garlic and the bay leave.
Check for salt and pepper.
put in the oven a 375F and cook 3 hours after the ribs are ready (they should fall apart ) I like to strain the sauce and serve the ribs on mashed potatoes  . The gravy is delicious. Add a green vegetable or a salad . This is a delicious fall and winter meal.

There is a problem with my program and I can  not get rid of this last picture I am working on it