Braised Beef Provençal

Total time: 5 hours 45 min, broken into 3 stages:
Night before: 10 minutes; Afternoon of: 25 minutes; Baking time: 5 hours plus 10 minutes to finish
This is one of those long-cooking dishes that I love doing during the winter. It has a bit of bacon and sautéed carrots added, to give it it's own unique flavors. The leftovers can be tossed with pasta for another dinner.

Ingredients: Braised Beef Provençal

24oz (750gr) beef, suitable for braising or stewing, 700gr, 24.7oz round, trimmed
1 onion, 110gr, 3.9oz
4 cloves garlic, 12gr, .4oz
4 whole cloves
1 bouquet garni you can buy these ready made in little sachets in the spice section
2 - 3 cups (16 - 24oz (500 - 750ml) red wine, 680gr, 24oz **
2 tbs red wine vinegar, 30gr, 1oz
3oz (100gr) bacon, 4 strips, 32gr, 1.2oz, cooked
5 medium - large carrots, 450gr, 15.9oz
1 tbs olive oil, 13.5gr, 4.8oz
1/2 cup (4oz, 120ml) beef stock, 112.5gr, 4oz
pinch nutmeg
3 tbs cornstarch (maizena) dissolved in 3 tbs water, 24gr, .8oz

Instructions: Braised Beef Provençal, prep

The night before: Trim beef and cut into 2 inch (5 cm) cubes. Put into a deep bowl or sauce pan.
Peel the onion and garlic.
Cut the onion in half and stick two cloves into each half.
Add to the beef along with the garlic and bouquet garni.
Add the vinegar and 2 - 3 cups of red wine, enough to cover the beef. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
The afternoon of: Take the meat out of the marinade and let drain, reserving all of the marinade.
Peel carrots and slice into 1/4 inch (.65cm) rounds.
Cut bacon into matchsticks.
Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add carrots and sauté until golden and caramelized, 10 - 12 minutes, turn using two forks or tongs. Remove carrots and set aside.
Add bacon and sauté until crisp. Remove and set aside.
Add beef and brown on all sides.
In a heavy baking dish (casserole), preferably deep, lay bacon on the bottom. Put the beef on top and surround the beef with the carrots, Pour the reserved marinade over all, along with the onion, garlic, bouquet garni and beef stock.
Put a sheet of oiled, waxed paper over the pot and put the lid on top.
Bake for 5 hours at 350F (180C). Check it every 2 hours or so to make sure it's not drying out - if it is, add more wine.
To finish: Remove from oven. With slotted spoon take everything out of the sauce and put on a small platter. Cover with the lid or foil to keep warm. Discard bouquet garni.
Bring the sauce to a boil over medium heat.
Dissolve cornstarch in water. Slowly add cornstarch mixture to sauce, stirring until thickened. You probably won't need all of it so stop periodically and let it cook to test consistency. Spoon some of the sauce over the beef and carrots, serve the remainder on the side.

Note: If your baking dish is not appropriate for the cook top put the red wine sauce into a small saucepan before thickening.

Note 2: This serves 4 or two meals for two.

** The nutrition info assumes that 95% of the alcohol is cooked off after 2.5 hours

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               Nutrition Information

Recipe serves 4
          Entire Recipe / per serving
Calories:  2047 / 512
Total Carbohydrates:  79 / 20
          Dietary Fiber: 15 / 4
Total Fat: 111 / 28
         Saturated Fat: 40 / 10
Cholesterol: 470 / 117
Protein: 164 / 41
Calcium: 238 / 59
Sodium: 1834 / 458

General Technical Details and Disclaimer:

Measurements are actual measurements used for calculation. If there are no values the nutritional numbers were simply too small.

I try to be accurate, but I do not guarantee it. I use 'grams' as the unit of weight; with an approximate conversion to ounces.

My information comes from my own digital, computerized scale and the USDA Nutrient Data Library: http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/

Provençal Beef and Mushroom Pasta

Total time: 25 minutes
Sautéed mushrooms and onions round-out the leftover beef and carrots. Serve over pasta for an easy one-dish dinner.

provencal pasta Ingredients:

leftover beef Provençal
leftover sauce, about 1 cup, if you don't have enough left, add beef stock or red wine, thicken with a bit of cornstarch
4oz (125gr) mushrooms, 125gr, 4.4oz
1 onion, 110gr, 3.9oz
2 cloves garli, 6gr, .2oz
1 - 2 carrots optional, 180gr, 6.4oz
2 tsp olive oil, 9gr, .32oz
pasta, 1 1/4 cup, 113gr, 4oz

Instructions:

Cook pasta according to package directions.
Cut onion in half, then in half again. Slice onion (you'll have quarter circle slices).
Mince garlic.
Trim and slice mushrooms.
Peel and slice carrots if using.
Heat oil in medium nonstick skillet. Add carrots and sauté 5 minutes.
Add onions and sauté 5 minutes longer.
Add garlic and mushrooms and sauté until lightly browned, about 7 minutes longer.
Cut beef into bite-size pieces.
Add beef, leftover carrots and sauce to mushroom mixture, cover and simmer 5 - 10 minutes.
To finish: Put drained pasta into a large bowl. Pour beef and vegetables over, stir well to combine and serve.

Note: This assumes half of the Provençal Beef with sauce is used with the additional ingredients.