Red Wine Braised Beef

Red Wine Braised Beef

This week the blog requirement to braise something for a meal could not have been timed better! the weather was so well suited to this kind of recipe that I was even more excited than usual to get into the kitchen. Using the recipe found here as a rough guide, I set out to make a braised beef that would help drive out the cold in my bones. (Note that the recipe calls for the use of a Dutch Oven, I do not have one yet so I used a slow cooker instead. I used this guide as a tool for converting cook times.) 

The picture below shows the veggies as they begin to fry in the pan. You might not be able to tell but the carrots are already browned quite a bit while the onions and celery have just been added. The next time I do this recipe I think I will do the carrots and celery at the same time because it didn't feel like the celery soaked up the butter the same way the onions and carrots did.

Next we have the browned beef in the pot on top of the veggies before adding the wine. I wish I had a picture of the beef in the pan but browning it correctly took all of my attention as the cuts were heavy and unstable. The original recipe called for a 4-pound roast which I couldn't find, so I used two 2-pound roasts instead. I actually liked this adjustment because the smaller roasts were easier to handle and they seemed to soak up more flavor than a larger roast would.  The title picture shows what the pot looked like once the wine was added about 10 minutes later. I set the pot to the HIGH setting and walked away!

Four hours later I came back to the slow cooker and found that the liquid had reduced to a nice Au jus and the beef was done perfectly! As you can see below the beef looks great paired with some of the veggies from the pot and a side of roasted red potatoes. I consider this effort to be a great success, as I was able to feed a group of four people with enough leftovers to make at least four more meals.

A couple things I did this time that differed from the guide recipe was the use of lemon juice, and throwing in a couple more fresh herbs. I squeezed in a whole lemon right when I added the wine as well as throwing fresh chopped parsley and green onions onto the beef before covering the pot and leaving it to sit. I think this turned out really well as the lemon juice gave the jus a brighter flavor as well as helping the beef soak up more liquid. Next time I will reserve some chopped parsley to throw on top of the beef as a garnish when serving as well.