As you may have heard, Christmas is coming. And so is my birthday... which sounds completely self-centered, but it's my blog. And as I wrote elsewhere, I have received a wonderful birthday/Christmas gift from the world's best girlfriend in the form of a Kitchenaid Professional 600 stand mixer. (Read about the "Mothership" here). And then to my mild surprise, my brother steps up to keep the "Kitchen Christmas" rolling along for me. Now let me clarify... it is not my brother's generosity that I found mildly surprising. It is that he had the wherewithal and insight to send me a Le Creuset cast iron Coquette. Great Googly Moogly.
Tonight I had to break it in. Now what to do. Having received earlier this year an early edition of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and having watched (a couple of times) Julie and Julia, Boeuf Bourguignon seemed the obvious choice. But how to make it vegetarian when half of its name is BEEF. It was clearly time to create Boeuf Fauxguignon.
Now this may seem sacrilege to devout Julia Child fans... but once again I remind you it is my blog, and my Le Creuset, and my goddam recipe. We took an idea and a concept and let it fly. Here's how it played out (and finally the recipe!!)...
Now no beef was to be had, but I did have two cups of dark TVP chunks which proved a decent substitute. (Texturized Vegetable Potein is available in most health food stores. Some stores... Natural Living Center in Bangor, ME for example... have several varieties including this fake beef stuff) If you have a hard time with meat substitutes, it is really your loss. More on this later.
Le Creuset on the stove top.
Start with the aromatics... or le mirepoix.
2T olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium-large yellow onion roughly chopped
2 stalks celery roughly chopped
3 carrots peeled and chopped
toss in a couple bay leaves for good measure and a healthy dash of salt.
After the veggies become soft and start to brown, add the (previously reconstituted) TVP. You should have about 3-4 cups of it. Keep stirring.
This next part might hurt you... it kind of hurt me.
Add 1-2 cups of red wine. Burgundy loaned its name to the dish, but any full bodied wine will work here. I used a Shiraz. Yum!
Should be smelling pretty good about now...
Add 3 peeled and roughly diced potatoes.
here comes more sacrilege...
Dump a 35 oz. can of whole Italian plum tomatoes and break 'em up... (I used Cento Italian... Muir Glen is a GREAT organic option)
You may want to add some vegetable stock here... I used about a cup and a half of water and 2 tsp of vegetable "Better than Bouillon".
Salt and grind some pepper then let 'er simmer... cover... then pop it all in a pre-heated 350-degree oven for 30 minutes. This will let it all get nice and tender with the heavy lid holding the juices in.... and the TVP soaks up the tomato and stock.
Now I will confess, I never have had the actual Boeuf Bourguignon....but some day I will. Until then, this dish is a great "stew" loaded with veggies and rich flavor. We had it with a warm, buttered slice of homemade wheat bread... and we loved it.
Le Creuset is officially broken in.... and our experiments in the kitchen will continue.
Now go cook for someone you love.
Oh, and Merry Christmas everyone!
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