Amy LaBelle’s Beef Bourguinon

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon good olive oil

• 8 ounces salt pork, diced

• 3 pounds beef chuck cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/2 cup Hennesey/Cognac
• 3 tablespoons Wondra or other light flour
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound carrots, sliced diagonally into 1-inch chunks
• 2 yellow onions, sliced
• 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
• 1 (750-ml) bottle good dry red wine, such as LaBelle Winery Red Alchemy
• 2 to 2 1⁄2 cups canned beef broth
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• 4 tablespoons (1⁄2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided
• 1 pound frozen small whole onions
• 1 pound mushrooms, stems discarded, caps thickly sliced

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 250 egrees. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven. Add the salt pork and cook over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Remove salt pork with a slotted spoon to a large late. Leave fat from salt pork in pan and add olive oil. Dry the beef cubes with paper towels and then sprinkle them with flour, salt and pepper. In batches in single layers, sear the beef in the hot oil for 3 to 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove the seared cubes to the plate with the bacon and continue searing until all the beef is browned. Set side. Toss the carrots, onions, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 2 teaspoons of pepper into the fat in the pan and cook over medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly browned. Add the garlic, frozen onions, and mushrooms and cook for 1 more minute. Deglaze the pan with Hennessy or Cognac. Add the beef and salt pork back to the pot and add the wine plus enough broth to almost cover the beef. Add the tomato paste and thyme. Bring to a simmer, cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid, and place it in the oven for about 2 hours, or until the meat and vegetables are very tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from the oven and place on top of the tove. This works beautifully with a cast-iron dutch oven. Serve over mashed potatoes or polenta. Enjoy!