Broccoli, Bourguignon, and Beef

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When people ask us what an average weekend in New York is like we always tell them that there really is no average weekend.  There are concerts and shows to see, family and friends who visit, museums and restaurants and wine tastings to enjoy, movie-nights with friends, birthdays at fancy (and not so fancy) bars, and on occasion, a romantic night in where the event is just making dinner. That was one of our recent Saturday nights.

The desire to make a new fall-style dish lead us to a Smitten Kitchen recipe we had flagged a while ago: Mushroom Bourguignon.  We have also been wanting to make a Roasted Broccoli side dish from Food and Wine and we are continuing to hone our beef-skills and there you have our meal: Beef, Roasted Broccoli, and Mushroom Bourguignon.

Our new favorite weekend activity is biking to Fairway to get the ingredients.  This meal ended up making our back packs incredibly heavy, but not our hearts.  It was a satisfying fall meal that is definitely work checking out.

For the Beef… We didn’t do anything too life changing, but Z liked it.  It probably helped that we bought a badass cut of beef tenderloin from Fairway.  We probably could have marinated it in sewage… but we didn’t.  Instead, we soaked it for about 2 1/2 hours in:

1/3 cup red wine

1 tbsp pressed garlic

1/2 tsp sweet paprika

1/4 tsp ground mustard seed

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

Fresh ground pepper

After marinating, we ground a ton of black pepper on each side and cooked it stove-top for about 12 minutes, but will cook it for closer to 10 minutes next time.

 

For the broccoli… We used another recipe by Grace Parisi.  She is one of our favorite chefs who writes for Food and Wine.  We mostly followed her recipe, but made a few changes to the numbers, reflected below.

2 large heads of broccoli

3 ancho chiles

5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp pine nuts

3 large cloves of garlic

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp coriander

1/4 cup butter softened

1/2 tsp sea salt

 

It was sort of like an ancho chile pesto.  First you soak the chiles for at least 20 minutes.

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You put 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan and brown the pine nuts, remove them from the heat, then lower the heat and soften the garlic in the same olive oil.  Let the garlic, pine nuts, and olive oil cool.

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Once the chiles have soaked, slice and remove the seeds.  We left them in because we like spice, but they were pretty mild regardless.

Combine all the ingredients in a cuisinart and blend.

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Toss the broccoli with the remaining 3 tbsp of olive oil and the 1/2 tsp of sea salt.  Then combine with the butter mixture.  Lay on a pan and roast for 25 minutes.

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For the bourguignon… This is another one thanks to Smitten Kitchen.  It was divine.  Please please try it.  First of all, we got good meaty mushrooms and as she says in her post, for the beef bourguignon fans out there you won’t even miss the beef!

2 1/2 lb Portabellas

1 large onion

1/2 tsp dried thyme

3 tbsp flour

4 1/2 tbsp butter

1 1/4 c red wine

2 c veggie broth

1 lb pearl onions

5 cloves garlic pressed or sliced thin

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp tomato paste

1/4 tsp sea salt

18 oz egg noodles

fresh ground pepper

 

Slice the Portabella caps into thick strips.  Peel the pearl onions and set aside.  Put 1 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of butter in a dutch oven or similar style pot.  If you don’t have one then borrow one from a friend and forget to return it.  (Thanks K and S!)

Cook the mushrooms on high heat.  Toss them with the sea salt and some fresh ground pepper.  Get them darker, but remove them before they start getting liquidy, about 4 minutes.

Turn down the heat and add another tbsp of olive oil and butter.  Then add the onion, thyme and fresh ground pepper.  Let the onions soften and get a little brown, about 10 minutes, and then add the garlic for about a minute.

In another pot, set water to boil and cook the egg noodles until they are al dented.

Turn up the heat, add the wine and let it reduce until about half is left.  Then add the broth and tomato paste and the mushrooms.  Let it simmer for about 30 minutes.  Add the pearl onions and let it cook for another 10.

Combine the remaining 2 1/2 tbsp of butter with the 3 tbsp of flour.  Stir in to the Bourguignon and let it continue simmering for another 15 minutes or until it has reached a consistency you like.

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We served this over the egg noodles with the broccoli on the side and honestly, the broccoli, although quite delicious, paled in comparison to the bourguignon, which also made amazing leftovers.

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We combined this meal with a glass of wine and a movie — but you could easily or skip both of those things, because the meal is an event in itself.