It’s really hard to ponder the blogging possibilities of food on an empty stomach, so I decided to encourage the flow of my creative juices by cooking up a boef à la bourguignonne. The dilemma facing me at the moment is that (1) I’m alone tonight and do not want to buy 5 lbs of beef; (2) I have never before prepared boef à la bourguignonne; and (3) I don’t know a thing about buying or preparing beef. This is due to the fact that I am a recovering vegan and as you must know (as the year is 2010 already), vegans are a species of incredibly culinary-challenged creatures.
Luckily, I had the Bible of cooking wonderful single-serving food—"The Pleasures of Cooking for One" by Judith Jones (yes, that would be Julia Child’s Judith Jones). If you are cooking for one or even two people, this is seriously the perfect little cookbook/pleasure read ever! Anyway, she has an incredibly simple recipe for boeuf à la bourguignonne, which of course I deviated from. Yes, you read that right—the recovering vegan is deviating from the discovering editor of Julia Child’s recipe! Sound the alarm bells! Ok, so my deviations were minor: fresh thyme from my plant instead of dried, a bit more wine and broth, and browned mushrooms. For those of you who are fans of the movie Julie & Julia, you will be happy to note that I did not crowd my mushrooms, and they turned out perfect.
It’s simmering now, but I must say that I’ve had a bunch of tastes so far, and the broth is practically magical! I don’t know about the beef yet because as a recovering vegan, I don’t know a thing about what it’s actually supposed to taste like. I had to consult my friend Heather about whether it was over or under cooked if it was tough. We will find out with all conclusiveness within an hour, however, and then I will report back. With pictures.
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