Beef Bourguignon

Last Sunday was my first attempt at Beef Bourguignon.  In my opinion, it can be a pretty time intensive recipe...start to finish, it took about three and a half hours to prepare.  I started out by browning applewood smoked thick cut bacon in a little olive oil.  If I had better prepared, I would have purchased a "real" cut of bacon from the butcher; instead, I just got some pre-packaged bacon from the grocery store.  After removing the bacon from the pot and cubing and drying off about 3lbs of chuck steak, I browned the steak in two different batches in the bacon remains.  After the meat was browned, I removed the meat from the pot and started to cook the vegetables (carrots, yellow onions, and some garlic).

When the vegetables were the right texture, I added the beef back to the pot, along with some tomato paste, spices, beef broth, and a good bottle of pinot noir.

After bringing the mixture to a boil, I placed the pot in the oven at low heat and let it cook for about 2 hours. After the time was up, you could really see and smell how the ingredients melded together and created a great aroma.  It was also fairly clear the liquid reduced significantly, creating a thicker, rich sauce to go with the rest of the dish. 

Because the sauce was not as thick as I'd have wanted (and I didn't want to wait that long to reduce the liquid by boiling it), I mixed a quick beurre manie and stirred it in, along with sauteed mushrooms and pearl onions and let it simmer for only a few more minutes.

To serve, I boiled some egg noodles, spooned the beef bourguignon on top, and accompanied it with a slice of fresh baguette.

When I make this next time, (and there will be a next time), I'll probably do without the pearl onions and add a couple of sweet onions.  And I think I'll use a tiny bit less beef broth so the sauce is thicker right out of the oven. 

UPDATE: Probably my favorite part of this dish is the leftovers.  When the flavors have an extra day or two to develop, it provides the dish even more character.  I served the beef bourguignon over garlic and herb mashed potatoes and it was delicious.  In addition to the changes above, I'll probably make this dish a day early so it can develop more overnight before serving.

LM (Chicago, IL)

Kristen and I had a free restaurant.com gift certificate to use, so we decided to try LM. LM calls themselves a French Gastro Bistro, and is located in Lincoln Square. While the meal was a little pricy, we found the food delicious and had a great time.

We decided to get a bottle of wine, and settled on a Bourgogne, a pinot noir. It was fairly mild and smooth, and was an easy drinking wine. For appetizers, Kristen had the spinach salad with Saint Agur blue cheese, beets, pickled onion, and candied pecans. Unfortunately, they forgot the pickled onions on the salad, but it was tasty nonetheless. I started with Oeuf en meurette, with a mushroom ragout, toasted brioche, and a red wine reduction. The poached egg yoke created the sauce for this dish, and it really came together when you got a bite of each component at once.

For the main dishes, Kristen ordered the special vegetable risotto, while I choose the cassoulet. The vegetable risotto tasted as if it had been richened by marscapone cheese, and was topped by roasted artichokes and tomato confit. Similar to the appetizers, they forgot one of the components (shaved summer truffle), but a small bowl of truffle was quickly brought when prompted. The cassoulet had coco beans braised with lamb sausage and was topped with a leg of duck confit. This was a heavy dish, but perfectly hearty. The duck confit was rich and tender with crispy skin. The beans were also perfectly cooked, with the right amount of bite. The breadcrumbs added a more texture on top.

Finally, for dessert Kristen got the creme brulee and I got the chocolate terrine. The creme brulee was a large portion for one. I enjoyed that it came in a shallow dish, maximizing the amount of burnt sugar on top. A madeliene cookie came with it, but it was cold and dry, and didn't get finished. We were too full to waste space in our stomachs. The chocolate terrine was described as a dense, compressed chocolate mousse. It was extremely rich, making the small portion size a good choice. It came with a salted carmel and whipped cream, which complemented the chocolate well.

Overall, we were very happy with the meal. The food was delicious, and the service was terrific, with our server joking and keeping a light mood throughout the meal. We even joked about me getting the meat sweats after the finishing the cassoulet. We will be happy to go back and have another meal at LM.

Super Bowl Chili

When the Super Bowl comes around, it's not only time for great football but also great food. This year I kept it simple, just making a large pot of chili. I prefer my chili with cubed chuck instead of ground beef, because I like the texture of the tender chuck after it has been simmering for a few hours.

After browning off the cubed chuck, I pulled the meat out and put chopped onion, garlic, jalapeno, poblano, and chipotle peppers into the pot to sweat. I added some tomato paste, chili powder, toasted cumin, bay leaf, cayenne pepper, garlic, and because I'm lazy, a prepackaged chili seasoning mix. Because I wanted to have a Cincinnati style chili, I also put in some cinnamon, nutmeg, and a touch of clove. After toasting the spices with the onion and peppers, I deglazed the stockpot with a bottle of Baltijos, a dark red beer, and added some beef broth, tomatoes, kidney and black beans, and a few bay leaves. I turned it down to simmer while I watched the Michigan basketball game and a rerun of Jersey Shore. I'm a sucker for trashy reality tv.

After a few hours, the chili was done and the chuck becomes very tender. The chili has a spicy, complex taste after the spices meld after the long cook. I like to add hominy at the end of the cooking and just warm through. I also have some cheese, chopped onion and cilantro, and sour cream on hand to top the chili, although forgot about them on my first bowl. This was perfect for a cold winter day in Chicago. I'm happy that I made enough to have over the new few days. With a side of Tums.

Craftsteak (Las Vegas, NV)

Craftsteak is a Tom Colicchio restaurant at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV.  Carli and I celebrated my birthday there last Sunday night.  Must say it was kind of an up and down meal.  We started with the Warm Frisee Salad (with bacon, blue cheese, and a poached duck egg) and a variety of fresh oysters (UP!).  Both were fantastic and the salad was a favorite of mine.

We then ordered a 32 oz, 90 Day Dry Aged Ribeye and Sauteed Butternut Squash.

The ribeye was cooked well and had amazing flavor, but a 90 day dry aged cut of prime meat shouldn't take 5 or 6 cuts from a steak knife to slice off a piece (down).  The cooking of the butternut squash was inconsistent as well; some were very firm, some were much more tender (down).  Hard to argue with the flavor though.

For dessert, we ordered the Chocolate Ganache Cake and Hazelnut Chip Ice Cream (UP!). 

I wish I would have taken a picture of the ganache oozing out of the cake, but it didn't last long enough to take a picture.  We enjoyed a bottle of the Radio Coteau Zinfandel throughout the meal.  Good finish and flavor, but a little too sweet for our tastes, especially for Carli, who enjoys a very dry red wine.

I think we were both disappointed in the meal overall, partly because we had such high expectations of Craftsteak.  But in the end, it was a fantastic way to celebrate a birthday. Also hard to complain about some of these views we had from the balcony of our suite at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas...

Noodle Asia (Las Vegas, NV)

Noodle Asia is "an inviting area...where people can enjoy a quick meal in a social setting" from executive chef Kevin Wu.  Carli and I had lunch there last Sunday.  Sat down, enjoyed some tea, and ordered the Si Jiu Beef ($14) and Singapore Mei Fen ($14).  Great food as always and pretty inexpensive (considering it's at the Venetian).