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Beef stews - so delicious, so un-photogenic
I promised amazing paleo recipes, and I will deliver. This is straight-up cribbed from the amazing site Mark’s Daily Apple, which is a must-read for anyone interested in paleo or primal eating, or just plain healthy eating and exercise habits. While I love the success stories, fitness analysis and links on this site, of course the recipes are my favorites.
While poring over the site for inspiration, I came across the Beef Burgundy recipe. Like probably everyone else who saw the film Julie and Julia, we desperately craved boeuf bourguignon throughout the movie and then promptly forgot all resolve to actually make it the moment we left the theater.
When I ran across this recipe, months later, I was reinvigorated. It is a bit modified from the original Julia Child version from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but you should still plan to block off a few hours to commit to this masterpiece. It is absolutely worth it. The slow braising makes the meat become meltingly tender, and the flavors meld into something rich and winey and unmistakeably French.
[Side note: In my limited experience, I'd advices using a quality source for your meat. Not that the cut needs to be expensive — since it's braising for a couple hours, it's going to get tender — but I think it's worth it to get local and/or grass-fed. Obviously it's more environmentally friendly, green-friendly, Paleo-proper, and all that en vogue stuff. But I made this dish with grass-fed Washington State beef purchased at Whole Foods as opposed to another beef stew later with free-range Australian meat from Trader Joe's, and I thought the WA meat tasted much better. Who knows...more testing needed. Price was the same, anyway.]
The recipe makes enough for 8, or a big dinner and 2 sets of lunch leftovers. It also freezes quite well.
Boeuf Bourguignon
Inspired by Julia Child and adapted by Mark’s Daily Apple
- 1/4 lb. bacon
- 4 Tbs. fat of some kind (butter or oil…I used a mix of coconut and olive oil)
- 2 1/2 – 3 lbs. of beef cut into 2-inch cubes. I used the stew meat from the WF meat counter.
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 2 Tbs. almond flour (or regular flour, if non-paleo)
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 Tbs. tomato paste
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 Tbs. fresh thyme (or 1 tsp. dried)
- 1 Tbs. fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 cups full-bodied red wine (I used Chianti)
- 2 1/2 cups beef stock
- 1 lb. white or brown crimini mushrooms
Preheat the oven to 425. Get your big shallow oven-proof casserole ready. I used our cazuela [How do you know you're a hipster foodie? When you have kitchen tools that don't have an English translation!] but any deep and wide oven-safe dish would work.
Cut the bacon into little strips (lardons) and saute with a tablespoon of the fat until cooked but not crisp. You can do this all in your Le Creuset if you are fortunate enough to have one, or in a deep skillet. Reserve the bacon in your casserole dish.
Pat the beef as dry as possible and in batches, brown it on all sides. Take the time to get all the sides brown, even though it takes a long time and is a bit messy, because it’s worth it for the flavor in the long run. As the pieces brown, add them to the casserole with the bacon.
When all the meat is browned, sprinkle it with the flour, salt and pepper and put it in the oven for 10 minutes. The goal is to create a bit more of a crust on the meat. Then remove from the oven and turn the heat down to 325.
In the skillet or saucepan you used to brown the meat, add another tablespoon of the fat/oil and saute the onions and carrots until soft. Then add the tomato paste, garlic, thyme, parsley and bay leaf. After a moment, stir in the wine and beef broth and bring up to a gentle boil.
Let the whole thing simmer for about 5 minutes so the flavors start to meld, then pour over the meat in the casserole pan. Cover the dish with a lid or foil, then place it in the oven and cook for 2 1/2 hours (I told you you need to commit to it!)
In the meantime, slice the mushrooms and saute in batches in the remaining fat/oil. Set aside.
Every hour or so peek in the oven under the lid to make sure the liquid bubbling gently. It’s done when a fork easily pulls the meat apart. You should taste it to make sure.
When done, take the meat out of the oven and strain it through a colander with a bowl underneath, so the liquid is in the bowl and the solids in the colander (not the other way around!) Put the liquid in a saucepan and bring it to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, put the meat back in the casserole (or another serving dish of your choice) and add the mushrooms.
When the sauce is done, pour it over the meat and mushrooms and top with chopped parsley.
We promised more detail in the last post about how we’re eating these days, so here’s the backstory. As you may know, we’ve been doing Crossfit for several months now, as Jeremy first wrote about back in June. We’ve grown to be strangely addicted to the 30 minutes (and sometimes 45, or 60 or — shudder — 75, depending on the instructor) of all-out, kick-your-ass workouts. We’ve upped our visits to the Crossfit torture center to three times a week, and do Crossfit-style workouts on our own or, for Jeremy, while he’s traveling for work.
We definitely feel stronger and more in shape since doing Crossfit. But the exercise part is really only half of the equation. The other part is what you eat. For months, Jeremy had been trying to convince me that we should “go Paleo” and complete the nutrition part of the program. I was skeptical. I figured working my butt off at Crossfit gave me the leeway to eat whatever I wanted — macaroni ‘n cheese with bacon is guiltless after you’ve just destroyed yourself doing Fran! Plus, anything that didn’t let me eat bread…or cheese…or rice and beans…yeah, as someone who can’t stop thinking or talking about food, I wasn’t having it.
But right around New Year’s, we were chatting with one of our instructors and he mentioned his New Year’s resolution was to go Paleo for six weeks. Maybe it was because we had just gorged ourselves while in Austin, or maybe it was the post-workout buzz going to our heads, but for some reason six weeks sounded doable. We started that night with a dinner of roasted salmon and sauteed spinach and haven’t looked back since.
That’s right. Since Dec. 30 or so, we’ve been 95% (allowing for the occasional unavoidable rule-breaking) free of dairy, grains and legumes. And we feel really, really good.
Speaking for myself, the gastrointestinal discomfort (sorry for the imagery) that I used to battle constantly has virtually disappeared. I don’t feel sluggish or weighed down like I used to after eating a croissant or pastry in the morning. We’ve both lost weight, though it’s hard to say how much since we don’t own a scale and that wasn’t the goal of this decision. Overall, we both feel lighter, leaner and just better about what we put in our bodies.
Okay, so slow down. What is Paleo exactly, and why would anyone do it?
While it’s gaining traction in the mainstream media recently (a recent Washington Post piece was a well done, while a New York Times Style story made it sound extremely douchey) the Paleo lifestyle isn’t a particularly new idea. While I really hate calling it a “diet” because diet to me implies the goal of losing weight, The Paleo Diet website has a good explanation of the basics behind the theory:
With readily available modern foods, The Paleo Diet mimics the types of foods every single person on the planet ate prior to the Agricultural Revolution (a mere 500 generations ago). These foods (fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and seafood) are high in the beneficial nutrients (soluble fiber, antioxidant vitamins, phytochemicals, omega-3 and monounsaturated fats, and low-glycemic carbohydrates) that promote good health and are low in the foods and nutrients (refined sugars and grains, saturated and trans fats, salt, high-glycemic carbohydrates, and processed foods) that frequently may cause weight gain, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and numerous other health problems. The Paleo Diet encourages dieters to replace dairy and grain products with fresh fruits and vegetables — foods that are more nutritious than whole grains or dairy products.
In other words, eat meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, and lay off the grains, dairy, processed foods and carb bombs.
This has not been as difficult as you would think.
First thing we did was to throw away or hide away all non-Paleo foods in our apartment. The next thing was to go to the grocery store and stock up on things we could eat: lean meats and fruit and vegetables, but also things like coconut milk, almond flour and sunflower seed butter (ADDICTIVE). Many recipes in our current cookbooks are or can be made Paleo-friendly, but there are thousands of Paleo recipes online on dozens of Paleo and Crossfit blogs as well (I’ll share some of our favorites in future posts).
It’s cut down on our dining out habits, which is an excellent step financially. But even eating out is not an obstacle at most restaurants. Pretty much everywhere will sell you a big entree-sized salad with some kind of protein on it, and given the rise in allergies in recent years most establishments are sensitive to wheat-free or dairy-free needs.
While technically alcohol is not Paleo, a glass of red wine once a week is considered acceptable. If you “have” to drink, tequila and clear liquors are the way to go — in fact, apparently some bars now sell a version of a margarita called a “Paleorita.”
Are we perfect Paleo? Of course not. I mentioned 95% earlier, which allows for the occasional “don’t ask don’t tell” situation at a restaurant where we don’t scrutinize too closely how those coconut shrimp were prepared. And there have been a few times where circumstances made it virtually impossible to adhere to the rules. But for the most part, we’ve stuck to the plan.
And we’ve stuck to it not because we feel mutually obligated or because it’s some silly resolution, but because it really does feel better. I can’t say that I’ll eat this way for the rest of my life, but for right now it works for me and it’s easy to do. I’ve eaten pretty much whatever I wanted my entire life up until this point. It’s worth it to us to see what happens when we try eating more consciously.
Do you think we’re crazy? Do you want more information? Are you wondering why I wrote 1,000 words on this? (Me too.) Feel free to share in the comments. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to some of the delicious recipes I’m planning to share soon.
Lisa
Jeremy
