The French love to cook with red wine and so do I. You can make this great beef dish for dinner and use the leftovers in sandwiches. The marinade is an important part of your recipe as it gives the meat its flavor. I hope you enjoy it. Bon appetit!
French Braised Beef
Ingredients:
One 5 lb beef chuck roast
5 medium-sized carrots, cut into inch long pieces
5 ribs fresh celery, cut into inch long pieces
2 large Spanish onions, cut into quarters
5 pieces of whole fresh peeled garlic
3-4 bay leaves
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp fresh cracked black pepper
4 ½ sprigs fresh thyme
2 ½ sprigs fresh rosemary
3 whole peeled plum tomatoes, cut into quarters
1 qt good Pinot Noir
1 pt chicken stock
Pre-heat your oven to 395 degrees.
In your food processor, mix 1 cup olive oil with the salt, pepper, a ½ sprig of thyme and a ½ sprig of rosemary, and the garlic powder. Once well blended, cover the entire roast in the oil mixture. Put the roast in the refrigerator for 1-3 hours to rest with the marinade on top of it.
While the roast rests, in a deep roasting pan or heavy oven proof pot with a lid, add all the vegetables and the rosemary, thyme and bay leaves. Drizzle with olive oil and mix together with a tsp of kosher salt and a tsp of cracked black pepper.
Pour in your wine and chicken stock, then add the roast in the center of the pan. Your roast should be almost 3 quarters submerged in the braising liquid.
Once you do all that, either place the lid to the pot on tightly or using heavy duty aluminum foil, cover very tightly as you do not want any steam to escape.
Place in the center of the oven rack and let cook for 2 hours, turn the oven off and let the roast sit in the oven 10 minutes, pull it out of the oven and let it sit on the stove covered another 10 minutes. Next, uncover the meat and let sit another 10 minutes.
Take the roast out and carefully transfer the meat to a cutting board. While it rests on the cutting board determine whether you want to shred or slice the beef.
The braised vegetables are a great treat to have with this dish. I strain them and serve them on the side. You can also serve a nice aged parmesan herb and mushroom infused risotto or polenta.
John Ricco is a licensed mortgage broker and local chef living in Maspeth with roots in Greenpoint, Brooklyn dating back to 1892.
