Yes, I know, this dish is traditionally served with red burgundy (or at the very least, pinot noir). So why the Gamay?

 

Well, friends, this is not your usual banana and bubble gum Beaujolais. No, it is something else. It is an elegant Gamay that has a distinct terroir (which means it tastes like the soil where it is from). I don't want to say that it drinks like a Burgundy, either. If I did, think Mr Vallette would throw his shoe at me.

 

PS:  A little birdy told me that he, too, likes to serve this dish with his wine;)

Ingredients

Serves 4

1 kg stew beef, cut into 3cm cubes
1 shallot, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
2 bay leaves
20 pearl onions
4 carrots, cut into large 4cm chunks
500g small button mushrooms
500ml red wine
2 tbsp flour
20g butter
1 baguette, sliced 3 cm thick
  Olive oil
  Salt and pepper

Method

 

Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius. Drizzle bread with olive oil, and bake until golden.

 

Season beef with salt and pepper.  Heat oil in a Dutch oven and brown the meat carefully in rounds. Don't dump it all in at once, or you will have a mess of ugly grey meat. You want the meat nice and brown on the outside. You don't want to cook it all the way through. Set aside each batch until you are finished. Add the butter and sauté the onions, carrots, and mushrooms for three to four minutes. Add the garlic and shallots and cook for two minutes longer. Add the flour, and put the meat back into the pan with the thyme and bay leaves. Pour in the stock and wine. Bring everything to a boil, cover and place into the preheated oven for about two hours.

 

Serve over the toasted French bread. And watch out for flying shoes!

 

Background Music: All My Friends (LCD Soundsystem Cover) by Franz Ferdinand