Boeuf Bourguignon

Boeuf Bourguignon

Stolen ‘avec permission’ from Patrice Martinez, Chef/Owner of the quaint little French Market Café on Venice, California’s bohemian Abbot Kinney Boulevard, this recipe will take your taste buds to Paris! The Café is known throughout Los Angeles as a place where French and European ex-pats (and French chefs from other restaurants) love to gather. So, it is no wonder that a French chef should be the owner along with his French wife, Agnes. 
The French Market Café has been on Abbot Kinney for a decade; Patrice and Agnes bought it about 5 years ago. The menu is truly French and includes some typical favorites; Jambon de Paris, Saucisson, Pate de Campagne, French Onion Soup, Quiche, Croque-Monsiuer, a Crepe du Jour, and Blanquette de Poulet.
The tiny dining room only seats 20, but the bustling, leafy patio is where find you will find neighborhood residents with their kids and dogs enjoying breakfast or lunch – and they will be thrilled to know that the restaurant has extended their hours to serve dinner.
The adjacent gourmet market is filled with French products; cheeses, olives, mustards, olive oils, escargots, saucisson and pâtés. There is a frozen section of ready to eat French specialties and the extensive wine cellar allows patrons to buy a bottle of wine at market price and, for a $5 corkage fee, enjoy it with their meal.

About the chef: Patrice studied his craft at the Lycee Ediguiere in Avignon and then went to work at Auberge de Pompas Logis de France, the Two Star restaurant in Montfavet. From there he traveled through Mexico, Canada and Venezuela, eventually landing in the US where he worked at La Petite France in Miami. He came to Los Angeles in 1995 and worked with many of his French friends including Francis Bey, Claude Segal and Jean Francois Meteigner and Patrick Jamon. He is full time owner/chef at the French Market Café and loves being reminded of his French roots on a daily basis.

French Market Café
2331 Abbot Kinney Boulevard
Venice, CA 90291
310 577 9775

Boeuf Bourguignon is served with Gratin Dauphinois at the French Market Café for $11.90.

This recipe makes 6 restaurant servings and takes about 30 minutes preparation time and 3 hours cooking time and the ingredients can be found at a grocery or gourmet store.

Boeuf Bourguignon Ingredients:
4 lbs beef shoulder (stewing beef)
6 oz bacon
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 onion, chopped 
1 lb mushrooms, sliced
2 stalks celery, chopped 
1 bottle red burgundy wine (young wine)
2 cups of beef bouillon (beef stock)
1ounce flour 
4 tablespoons olive oil
1ounce butter (plus 1 tablespoon for frying mushrooms)
1 small bunch parsley
1 sprig thyme 
1 clove garlic, mashed
18 small white onions
Salt and black pepper to taste

Steal This Recipe® Step by Step Instructions for Boeuf Bourguignon:
Cut the bacon into small strips and simmer it for 10 minutes in water. Dry the bacon.
Cook the bacon in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan with the olive oil at moderate heat for 2 or 3 minutes. Remove the bacon.
Cut the beef in 2-inch cubes. Using the same saucepan, cook the beef in the bacon's fat until browned. Remove the beef.
Still in the same pan, add the onion, carrots, celery and cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Remove the fat from the saucepan.
Melt the butter over a low heat and mix in the flour to make a paste – a light roux. 
Put the beef and bacon back in the pan with the vegetables and season with salt and pepper. 
Cover the beef cubes with the butter and flour mixture. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes, uncovered, turning the beef cubes.
Pour in the wine and enough bouillon so that it covers the ingredients. Add the small, white onions, garlic and herbs. Bring to a boil.
Cover the pan and simmer for 3 hours on a low heat. Boeuf Bourguignon cooks very slowly; the meat is done when the fork slides out easily from a beef cube. 
Remove from heat.
Sauté the mushrooms in butter and add them to Boeuf Bourguignon. 
Garnish with parsley and serve.

Boeuf Bourguignon is traditionally served with boiled potatoes, but at the French Market Café it is served with Gratin Dauphinois.
 

The following nutritional analysis is for a 6 oz. serving at home.
 

Nutritional information provided by www.foodcalc.com.