There are two stews that I love to make. Beouf Bourguignon and Beef Stroganoff. One day, I thought to myself, what if I made a bastard stepchild from the two dishes. Would the ingredients clash, or would they come together and form a merry union? It turns out, that they can go together REALLY well. You just have to change a few things up, and it’ll work.

The first thing is that you don’t use cheap meat. Beouf Bourguignon is traditionally made of cheap cuts, and you braise the crap out of the meat till it’s tender. On the other hand, Beef Stroganoff uses better cuts like ribeye or top sirloin. Personally, I prefer top sirloin because I just can’t get myself to stew a nice ribeye steak. So I use top sirloin. Believe me, it’s worth it using a better cut of meat instead of stew meat.

With this recipe, you have your choice of starch to serve it over. But frankly, I just like sopping up the gravy with a hearty artisan bread. And since I make a lot of bread, it’s always on hand!

Without further ado, let’s get the recipe!

Ingredients

2 lbs. sirloin steak cut into 1″ cubes
4 whole garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup beef broth/stock (unsalted)
1 cup Burgundy or Pinot Noir (it doesn’t have to be expensive, but it should be drinkable)
4 medium carrots cut in 1″ pieces on the bias
1/2 pound of whole mushrooms, halved
1 small can of tomato paste
1 medium onion, sliced thin
1 pint sour cream
1 tbls herbs de province
2-3 tbls flour
Salt and fresh-ground pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 450
2. In a 5-qt Dutch oven or large oven-safe pot, add about 1 tbls olive oil and begin to heat on the stove over medium heat.
3. When the olive oil starts reaching its smoking point, add the garlic and vigorously sautee, being careful not to brown it.
4. Once the garlic starts becoming fragrant – about 45 seconds – add the meat.
5. Add salt and fresh-ground pepper and brown the meat until all sides are grey
6. Add about 1/2 of the beef broth and all of the tomato paste and stir to coat the meat completely and cook for a few minutes.
7. Add all the wine and the rest of the broth.
8. We want to get to the point where the liquid is barely covering the meat, so add the rest of the stock, then if the meat is still not covered, keep on adding wine in small amounts till you get there. 🙂
9. Bring the mixture to a boil, then cover and let simmer until your oven comes to temp.
10. Once your oven comes to temp, transfer the pot to the oven, then immediately turn the heat down to 350.
11. Bake at 350 for an hour. After an hour, turn the oven down to 275.
12. After the second hour, add the carrots and gently fold them into the mixture so you don’t break up the meat. Cook for half an hour.
13. In a cast iron skillet, saute the sliced onions in olive oil.
14. Once the onions begin to wilt, add the mushrooms and saute for about 4-5 minutes until the mushrooms start to soften.
15. Add a bit of beef broth, then sprinkle the flour over the mixture to thicken it up. Make sure there are no lumps! If there are work them out and add a bit of beef broth, but you don’t want it too liquid.
16. Finally, add a pint of sour cream, mix thoroughly, then set aside.
17. When the beef and carrots are finished, remove the pot from the oven, then over low heat, add the onions and mushrooms and fold until everything’s incorporated.
18. Let simmer for 10 minutes for all the flavors to marry.
19. Serve over rice or noodles or sop up the gravy with bread!