I made this once, a couple of years ago, and ate it on a winter night with my flatmate. It was worth the incredibly long wait and all the work.
Ingredients:
1,5 kg diced beef
200 gr pancetta, diced
200 gr onions, chopped
25 gr tomato paste
3 thyme branches
1 rosemary branch
1 lt Burgundy red wine (or bone broth!)
1 lt bone broth
200 gr carrots, chopped
2 garlic cloves
3 bay leaves
50 ml e.v. olive oil
For the baby onions:
300 gr baby onions, peeled
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp e. v. olive oil
100 ml bone broth
salt to taste
For the mushrooms:
500 gr champignon mushrooms, halved
2 tbsp e. v. olive oil
1 tbsp frsh chopped parsley
1 garlic clove
salt and black pepper to taste
Boil the pancetta for about ten minutes, strain and leave it aside.
Heat a cast iron pot (35X30) on the stove, add a drop of olive oil and fry the pancetta until golden brown and crispy on all sides, then remove it from the pan. In the same pot place your diced beef, making sure not to overcrowd meat in the pan so you can turn them around one by one until evenly browned, then put the meat aside on a plate. Still in the same pot (don’t wash it!) add the onions and carrots, cook until golden brown stirring often, then add the pancetta and beef that you previously fried.
Heat the oven to its maximum temperature (usually 250’ for a static oven, or 220 if fan), transfer the pot in the oven and let roast for about 10 mins, turning the meat around after 5. Take the pot out and lower the oven temperature to 130 (if static) or 110 (fan).
Dilute the tomato paste in a ladle of bone broth, pour it into the pot together with the red wine/ bone broth. The meat should be fully submerged in the liquid. Heat it on the stove and take it to a boil, then cover with a lid and put back in the oven. Cook for about 4 hours.
Prepare the onions: heat the oil oil in a pan, add the onions and let brown for about ten minutes stirring often. Add the broth and let them cook for about half and hour, until tender. With a slotted spoon pick the onions and transfer them onto a plate
In a pan brown the garlic, add the chopped mushroos and cook for about ten minutes until tender. Sprinkle with the parsley.
Using a slotted spoon transfer the mushrooms onto a plate and pour the juice in the pot where you cooked the beef. Add the juice you cooked the onions in as well.
Place the diced beef in a pan with the onions and mushrooms.
Blitz the juices in the pot with a hand blender, put back on the heat and let simmer until thick enough to cover a spoon. Pour the juice over the meat, mushrooms and onions, cook for another 10-15 mins and your beouf bourguignon is finally ready to enjoy!