The Golden Hour - Beef Stroganoff (Or Maybe Not)

Saturday, October 17, 2020

MEA weekend. Dale and I were supposed to go to Madeline Island but decided not to. Mostly because Dale's workload this past week was much higher than expected but also somewhat due to the wind advisories for tonight and tomorrow night. We didn't want to risk the possibility of not getting off the Island. 

The plan for the night was a big dinner with cocktails; a real Golden Hour. 

We stopped by South Lyndale Liquors to pick up some wine for Dale but also some rum, falernum, curaçao, and orgeat for my polynesian cocktail. 

T The plan was to have beef stroganoff in the crock-pot tonight. I was so excited. We picked up everything we need to prepare it at Kowalski's. We also picked up pumpkin pie for dessert. Can't wait for ALL of it!

After shopping it was time for a cigar in the yard.  

Athena joined me while Dale took a lengthy walk. 

We had planned on making beef stroganoff tonight in the crock pot. I intended to start the assembly process  at around 4:00 p.m. so we could let the crock pot do its thing and then eat around 7:00. After his walk, around 3 p.m., Dale double checked the recipe and informed me that it was an 8+ hour cook. Boy, did I feel bad because that meant we wouldn't have time to make beef stroganoff tonight. Dale was understanding and offered to run back to the store and get some chicken thighs, broccoli, and a bun as I was still working on my cigar. It's been so long since we've made this particular beef stroganoff recipe that I must have gotten the prep time confused with a turkey noodle hot dish crock pot recipe I make much more frequently which only has a 3 hour total prep/cook time. In the last couple of years Dale's really taken to make his modified version Julia Child's beef bourginoine which gets the meat super tender. 

When I was done with my stogie Dale and I came inside for cocktails. I made my standard tiki cocktail which includes light rum, dark rum, curaçao, falernum, orgeat, and club soda. I used the tiki mug I got for free from the liquor store for buying a bottle of Plantation rum. I love this mug. It fits perfectly in my hand and feels good to hold.

We also had some appetizers - Triscuits  and Swiss cheese. Not real high falutin' but nummy none the less. 

Music was Vegas Baby Too from the Ultra-Lounge series. 

Dinner prep was easy enough. Dale got the thighs and vegetables ready and I got the bun buttered and in the oven at the appropriate time. 

It all turned out great. 

Movie for the night was Murder at the Gallop. We've been on a Margaret Rutherford/Miss Marple bender lately. We watched Murder, She Said last week and Murder Ahoy a week or so before that. 

Pumpkin pie for dessert. Dale and I have a Target run planned for tomorrow and he insists we're going to get an electric mixer for making whipped cream. Considering we've used a hand-held one for 27 years I have to say I whole heartedly agree with him. 

 

Christmas Day - Beef Bourginoine

Monday, December 25, 2017

Dale decided he wanted to make Julia Child's beef bourginoine recipe for Christmas dinner. I helped and was more involved in the production I think since the first time we made it years ago.

To start, my job was to slice the onion.

Dale got the meat dried off with paper towels.

I also took care of getting the carrots sliced. The recipe calls for one carrot. We had baby carrots so I used about 7 of them and sliced them into quarter rounds.

Dale got the stove set up.

I cut six (they're doubled up in the photo) good sized slices of bacon into thirds.

Dale had the brilliant idea of each of us frying the  bacon off at the same time. I used the skillet and he used the casserole. 

Then we did the same thing with the meat, searing it on all sides. I'm surprised one of us hadn't thought of this before since it made it go twice as fast.

We then fried the vegetables and then added the bacon and the beef and put it in the oven for about 4 minutes, took it out and tossed it, and then put it back in for 4 more minutes.

When it came back out we added garlic,

thyme,

the wine,

chicken stock,

and about a tablespoon+ of tomato paste,

brought it to a simmer and then put it in the oven for about 2 and a 1/2 hours.

As it got closer to the time to take it out, Dale fried off the mushrooms.

When it came out of the oven,

we drained off the broth,

put what was left back in the casserole,

and added the fried off mushrooms to the casserole.

Dale needed to boil down the approximately 3 and a 1/2 cups of broth we had down to 2 and a 1/2 cups. He said it probably started out as 5 and a 1/2 cups when we put  the whole casserole in the oven and reduced to  the 3 and a 1/2 we had when we took it out.

After the broth was reduced, Dale skimmed off the fat although there wasn't much since the beef was pretty lean to begin with. We added the broth back to the casserole and waited for it to rest a bit. The smell was insanely divine.

Mom came over for Christmas dinner. She got here at 3:00 p.m. and we watched The Bishop's Wife serving appetizers of smoked gouda, pears, and crackers. 

We ate around 5 p.m. with the beef over egg noodles. Dale made brussels sprouts in the oven. Pumpkin pie for dessert.

Dale Outdid Himself This Time

 

We had Heather and Nick over last night and Dale made Julia Child's beef bourginoine recipe. We both made it for Christmas Eve a few years ago. Yesterday Dale included one of Julia's steps that we didn't do last time. He strained the broth through a colander into a sauce pan and then put the meat and other ingredients back in the Le Creuset pot. With the broth in the sauce pan, Dale skimmed off the fat. Then he added in back in with the meat in the pot. Less fatty and it tasted divine. 

Christmas 2013 - Beef Stroganoff

Dale and I had originally planned to make Julia Child's beef bourginoine recipe for this year's Christmas Day dinner. That would have meant spending a good chunk of Christmas Eve day preparing it and with having to sing for two Christmas Eve services we decided that there wouldn't be quite enough time without making the day overly stressful. Instead we combined the bourginoin recipe with out crock pot beef stroganoff recipe which cut the total prep and cooking time by more than half.

First Dale sauted garlic and green onion and then the mushrooms. Next he browned the meat on the stove and then put it in the oven for about a half hour. After that he added wine and mustard and then cooked it in the over for about three hours. Before serving he added sour cream. We served it over egg noodles. The result was heaven.