Not Beef Bourguignon (in my trusty tagine) with Popovers
Since seeing the movie Julie & Julia, and just poking around the blogosphere the past few weeks, I have seen a lot about Beef Bourguignon. All of which I like. I have never made Beef Bourguignon, and so I wanted to give it a shot with the rest of my blogging buddies. Unfortunately at the 11th hour I realized that I didn’t have bacon, or pearl onions, or Burgandy wine. Although I thought I was clever and had that part covered, I was even going to call this post Leftover Beef Zinfandel to be cute – cause I was using leftover (surprise, surprise!) veggies in my recipe! And Zinfandel instead of Burgundy. But much to my dismay and missing key ingredients, not even that was going to fly. So I turned my defeat around, and instead decided to make a fabulous leftover beef stew.
Now the popovers are a whole other good story. My mom was visiting and we were going to a kitchen outlet so I could finally purchase a Cuisinart stick (immersion) blender. How I survived this long without one, will likely never be fully understood. However, she was also thinking about purchasing a popover pan. She said popovers go really well with Beef Bourguignon (at this stage, I thought I was going to be making my cutesy Beef Zinfandel). But instead I swayed her to get a cast iron skillet.
Later back at my house, I was opening up my new baby (the stick blender) and noticed it came with a recipe book. In the recipe book was a recipe for POPOVERS! So it was a sign that we needed to make popovers to accompany this meal. Not only that, but this recipe said to make them in muffin pans! Which we had! Hooray! Something was finally going my way!
Back to the stew. I have been loving my crock pot recently, and have been using it as a receptacle for every leftover, adding broth and calling it stew. So I thought about using it to make this stew. But I felt that this needed to be special, and I really love how nice and browned everything gets in the tagine.
So I opted to use that.
I still browned the cubes of meat before putting them in the tagine – so that was my little nod to Beef Bourguignon!
As the stew was cooking away in the tagine the popovers were being made. And you know what? The combination was indeed fantastic! Yes, I still want to make Beef Bourguignon, and I am sure I will, but a dolled up beef stew with leftover roasted veggies, and popovers is pretty darned tasty!
Leftover Beef Stew
INGREDIENTS:
2 cup grass fed beef cubes
flour
olive oil
8 oz. Portobella mushrooms, chopped
6 carrots, peeled and chopped
½ large white onion, chopped
¾ cup of homemade chicken stock
¾ cup red zinfandel( I used Ravenswood)
1 TBS each of fresh thyme and rosemary
3-4 cups of leftover roasted veggies (carrots, turnips, potatoes, green beans, etc) – if you don’t have leftover veggies, that is OK, you can just as easily add raw veggies to your pot, trust me, they will cook up just fine!
METHOD:
This recipe can be made in a stew pan, stovetop or a tagine or dutch oven in the oven. Preheat oven to 400F. Dust beef chunks with flour and brown in a pan until caramelized on the outside. Remove from pan and set aside. Add mushrooms to the pan, and stir around until all the juices from the beef have been sucked up by the mushrooms. Drizzle bottom of cooking vessel with olive oil. Add the beef, and mushrooms. Add the stock and wine, and fresh herbs. Let sit for about 5 minutes. Then add the other veggies. Cook in a 400 F oven for about 2 hours. Let sit with lid on for about 30 minutes out of the oven before serving.
Popovers
(From Cuisinart Stick Blender Recipe Book)
INGREDIENTS:
¾ cup of unbleached all purpose flour
¾ cup of milk (I used goats milk – that is what we had)
2 large eggs
1 TBS melted butter
½ tsp salt
butter for greasing muffin pans
METHOD:
Place ingredients in the mixing beaker (you can use a bowl). Place the stick blender in the mixing beaker (you could use and hand blender and a bowl). Blend using a gentle up and down motion, until batter is blended and completely homogeous, smooth and creamy. Cover batter and let rest for 30-40 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450 F. Grease 6 muffin cups (½ cup size) and then divide batter evenly among the prepared cups (mine filled each cup to the top). Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Do not peek or disturb, or the popovers might fall. Lower the heat (without opening the oven) to 375 F for another 20 minutes. Remove the pans and remove popovers from the pans and prick with a fork to allow steam to escape and prevent them from becoming soggy. Serve immediately.
Pam - October 12, 2009 at 2:36 pm
I made popovers once…so good and fun to make! Great dish!
dawn - October 12, 2009 at 2:50 pm
yes of course any good wine will work, smart cookie! looks wonderful and tasty to me. it’s been ages (over 7 years) since I’ve made popovers, weird eh since I live in popover kingdom.
marguerite - October 12, 2009 at 3:06 pm
My sister used to make popovers all the time! I need to move closer to her… or learn how to make them myself.
Every time I go to Sur la Table… I see their gorgeous, colorful tagines and think I must have one… but then think… no my kitchen is too small for another cooking vessel… and without fail… very shortly after seeing it there (I go every few weeks) you post a fabulous recipe cooked in your tagine and I think I must have one!!
marguerite - October 12, 2009 at 3:10 pm
LOL…. so I just told my husband about your latest great tagine dish… and he sent me a link to another great tagine dish we was just looking at!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYKqUGdc7rc
Melissa - October 12, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Nice popovers. And I just bought that same stick blender! Well, I’m betting it’s the same one anyway. I haven’t used it yet, but I am dying to make broccoli soup. Congrats on your new purchase.
Also, I’m planning on getting a Le Creuset soon and one of the reasons is beef bourguignon. And coq au vin and braised short ribs… but yeah, I’ve never made it either and would love to. On the other hand, I’ve never even made beef stew, so maybe I should go with that first!
Laurie Vengoechea - October 12, 2009 at 3:26 pm
This is perfect your way! And love the popovers, what a perfect Fall meal!
Maria - October 12, 2009 at 3:37 pm
I made some great popovers in a muffin pan last winter too and my husband absolutely loved them–I realized about an hour before dinner that we didn’t have any bread to accompany our meal (that’s a No-No for my husband) so I somehow came upon a popover recipe and put some together in literally minutes. The results were really great and the muffin pan worked perfectly.
As for the beef, it sounds great no matter what you label it as.
Oh, and I have been pining for an immersion blender for months now and still haven’t gotten my hands on one!!
Peter G - October 12, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Yum! Slow cooked meats, no matter they’re called, are always delicious! Love the popover combination too!
nina - October 12, 2009 at 4:06 pm
You made a wonderful improvised meal…I like the popovers….totally new to me! Is it something like a yorkshire pudding??
Rosa - October 12, 2009 at 5:19 pm
This is one wonderfully delicious looking meal!
Cheers,
Rosa
lisaiscooking - October 12, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Your popovers look amazing! I’ve had popovers on my mind lately, and now I’m going to have to make some.
Bellini Valli - October 12, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Look at the height of those popovers Jenn:D
ValleyWriter - October 12, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Mmmm… popovers! I just made apple butter today -might have to whip up some popovers now, a la Judie’s! 😀
Joan Nova - October 12, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Your ‘trusty’ tagine inspired me to purchase one as a gift for someone this past Saturday. Now I’m sorry I didn’t purchase 2! And I love your popovers.
Natashya - October 12, 2009 at 6:50 pm
I love popovers, the perfect accompaniment to beef stew! What a pretty tagine you have, is the a Le Crueset?
Jeroxie@Addictive & Consuming - October 12, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Didn’t what popovers is till now. Looks so cute and easy to make.
Divina - October 12, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Am I the only one who hasn’t see Julie and Julia? Well, it’s coming soon on theaters here. I love popovers and it’s just irresistible with beef Bourguignon. I love the tagine. I would like to have one too.
Anh - October 12, 2009 at 9:16 pm
The popovers are such a winner!!!
Pam - October 12, 2009 at 11:19 pm
The popovers look delicious and I am sure they were quite tasty with your stew. I love your tagine!
Allison Arevalo - October 13, 2009 at 1:59 am
I really need a tagine. They sell beautiful, but really pricey, ones at a Spanish shop in Berkeley, and I’m always so tempted. After reading this I’m thinking I won’t be able to resist next time I’m in there.
Ivy - October 13, 2009 at 2:04 am
Did you like the film Jenn? I heard last night that it will be coming up in Athens on the 22nd October. The bourguignon sounds delicious and I want one of those immersion blenders as well.
Jan - October 13, 2009 at 2:44 am
Love all your ideas – ‘Beef Zinfandel’!!
Jenn your ‘Not beef bourguignon’ turned out great!
I’ve never heard or pop overs before – but they are very similar to our ‘Yorkshire puddings’ which we have with Sunday roast dinner.
FoodJunkie - October 13, 2009 at 6:30 am
Are popovers something like yorkshire puddings? They kinda look alike. Anyway, your stew looks amazing. I have made Julia’s Beef Bourguignon (with local red Greek wine of course, as Burgogne is very expensive) and it turned out beautifully, but I read in an article that it is a chef’s take on the classic and not a recipe a French woman would cook, as it has too many stages, which can be cut down considerably. I felt that too after finishing it, but when you don’t know a recipe well, it is hard to change it beforehand.
Dharm - October 13, 2009 at 9:04 am
I just came over from Elle’s where she made a beef Bourguignon – so imagine my surprise at the title of yours! I love the Beef Zinfadel joke – very punny!! LOL. Have never heard of Popovers. looking at the recipe, it sounds a little like Yorkshire pudding… guess its like you say Okra, I say Ladies Fingers. You say Aubergine, I say Brinjal. This Beef stew is really stunning and those popovers look lovely too! I wish I had more time to come visit more often…
kat - October 13, 2009 at 10:00 am
I can imagine it would be great since popovers are basically yorkshire pudding just not cooked in the meat fat & that is the perfect accompaniment to stew
Arlene (MOM) - October 13, 2009 at 11:18 am
This was a real tasty dish!!! So we could say Jenn and Julia. Ha ha. Lucky me who sometimes gets to sample Jenn’s “experiments”. 🙂 Popovers are so nice to sop up the juice in a beef dish. It is so fun to pull one open and to see all the steam come pouring out and discover that they are hollow inside. When I lived outside of DC there was this country French restaurant that served them as their bread with whipped butter and raspberry preserves. Yum-o!
Natasha - 5 Star Foodie - October 13, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Popovers sound really delicious and so perfect with beef stew! I can’t wait to make those!
Bob - October 13, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Looks awesome! I’ve never made popovers, I’ve always been told they were difficult.
Erica - October 13, 2009 at 6:35 pm
I love the sound of this recipe! I’ve never ate popovers, but after your pictures and recipe I want to give them a try:)
pam - October 13, 2009 at 7:16 pm
I’ve never made popovers. they are so cute!
The Leftover Queen - October 14, 2009 at 10:58 pm
This is why I blog – I learn new stuff, like that Yorkshire pudding and popovers are essentially the same thing, just prepared and eaten differently!
Oh and Dharm…actually I say eggplant! LOL! 🙂
farida - October 16, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Me, too, I’ve been noticing a lot of beuf bourguignon (can’t get that spelling right) on a blogasphere, but haven’t made my own yet. Love your popovers:) And looking at your tagine reminded me that I’ve been desperately wanting to buy one but haven’t done yet.
Amy @ Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free - October 16, 2009 at 10:46 pm
I have been away from my Google Reader for too long and am just catching up. I had to laugh – I often plan to cook something and then realize at the last minute that I don’t have the right ingredients or enough time. I always have it cooked perfectly in my head, though. I guess that’s why I forget to double-check myself.
lo - October 22, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Oh, I love this idea — all those veg… it’s even better than beef bourguignon! 🙂 And baking it in the tagine is just brilliant. I’m convinced everything comes out better when you use a tagine.
I’m still reeling over the stick blender… how did you ever survive??
Bianca - October 24, 2009 at 2:50 am
I’m glad I stumbled upon your blog! My husband always makes too much beef burgundy & it’s nice to know what to do with those leftovers!
Heidi from Savory Tv - December 12, 2009 at 1:03 am
It looks gorgeous! I now *need* a tangine! PS, you are adorable in the header photo! Have a great holiday season 🙂