Money Saving Meals

Julie and Julia and THAT Boeuf Bourguignon

Wednesday, 17 March 2010

You saw the movie and watched the Oscars, and now you want to try THAT beef bourguignon, the dish with the co-starring role in Julie and Julia that didn't even rate a nomination.

If you don't normally blanch bacon or whip up a batch of brown braised onions just as ingredients, the actual recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking can look a bit daunting. But it doesn't have to be.

After seeing the movie, we were inspired to re-create THAT recipe for Money Saving Meals - it really is a classic dish. It's also a great make-ahead meal (the flavour just gets better). And although there is a bit of chopping or slicing, once it's in the pot you can pretty much relax.

You'll find our simplified version delivers the beef bourguignon flavour without quite such an investment in time and money. And it's healthier too. How come? Well, by today's standards, Julia's meal for 6 people is way too much food for a meal. We cut costs (and kilojoules/calories) by using half the amount of meat. Cost per serving for 6 people for Julia's recipe worked out at around $8 a serve; ours was around $5 a serve. That's a saving of $18 for the main meal alone if you are having a dinner party.

Julia's recipe uses 3lb (1.4kg) for 6 people (about 230g meat each). We used around half that (800g in fact) - a healthier amount of meat for a meal (about 125g each). That meant we could use half the amount of wine too - another saving. We promise you it's plenty for 6 people and completely satisfying. If you are into kilojoule or calorie counting, it's actually 1700kJ (405cals) per serving before you add accompaniments like mashed potato and beans and of course the dessert that follows ...

To balance the flavours, we needed fewer small white onions (12 instead of 18) and less mushrooms - more cost savings. We did slice 2 carrots instead of one for extra colour and to boost the vegies (we can't resist doing that).

To cut back on the saturated fat further, we substituted the ‘chunk of bacon' for one of our favourite ingredients, short cut bacon. This is a lean half rasher - the streaky, fatty (belly), narrow portion of the rasher has been removed leaving the choice cut lean eye meat.)

Boeuf Bourguignon inspired by Julie and Julia

Serves 6
Preparation time: about 30 mins
Cooking time: 1 hr 40 mins

2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
800g gravy beef
1 large onion, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
150g (5oz) shortcut bacon, fat trimmed, chopped into large dice
½ tsp dried thyme
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1½ cups red wine
1 cup beef stock
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 bay leaf
12 small white onions, peeled, and halved if large-ish (they may be called pickling onions)
300g (10oz) button mushrooms
¼ cup picked fresh parsley leaves, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF).

Chop the meat into 5cm (2in) chunks (remember, it shrinks when cooked).

Heat 1 tablespoon butter and all the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan or flameproof casserole and brown the meat well in 2 batches on a high heat. Remove all meat from pan and set aside.

Add the sliced onion, carrots, bacon and thyme and cook, stirring occasionally on a low heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and wine, bring to the boil and simmer for about 3 minutes until the wine has reduced a little. Stir in the stock, tomato paste, bay leaf and browned beef. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer on a low heat for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

While the beef bourguignon is gently cooking, place the small white onions on an oven tray lined with baking paper and mix with remaining butter that has been melted, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until soft.

Add the mushrooms to the saucepan and continue cooking, covered, for 15 minutes until the meat is tender and the mushrooms are softening. Stir in the roasted onions and cook for another 5 minutes until heated through. Top with parsley.