Vegetarian Boeuf Bourguignon

I did it! My first ever Daring Cooks Challenge!

The May 2012 host of the Daring Cooks Challenge was Fabi over at fabsfood.  Fabi challenged us to make Boeuf Bourguignon, a classic French stew originating from the Burgundy region of France.  HUGE thank you to Fabi for being such a great hostess and providing me with a super fun first challenge :)

I signed up to be a daring cook in the middle of April and so this is my first challenge.  When I got the challenge I was a little sad because I was at school and did not have any of the supplies needed to cook the dish! However, when I saw that the posting date was May 14th, the wheels in my head got turning.

May 14th, day after Mother's Day, I'll be home for Mother's Day, I should cook dinner!!!!

The other challenge: I am not a huge beef person and neither is my mom! So, I threw together the vegetarian version and it was great! I got to try out Seitan for the first time, and I loved it! My mom and dad and I shared the dinner along with a side of roasted red potatoes and it was a really nice meal.  I am certainly going to make this again.  I was so impressed by how easy it was to get together and it was so yummy!

Overall, my first challenge was a success!  I made a few errors such as: I got small yellow onions instead of pearl onions and so I had WAY too many onions and they were WAY too big.  They tasted great, but I ended up with a ton of extra onions...get excited for some new recipes involving a lot of caramelized onions :).   Follow the link for the recipe and enjoy!!!

Vegetarian Boeuf Bourguignon

Seitan

TOO MANY ONIONS! 

Red Potatoes-great side dish

Mushrooms

Large white onion-chopped and chopped carrots

This sauce smelled soooo good!

It's ready!

Oh, and we got some fancy French cheese as a little appetizer!

Ingredients:
2 carrots, cut into chunks
1 large white onion, sliced
18-24 small onions (pearl onions...I used small yellow and had WAY too many...oops!)
1 pound fresh mushrooms, quartered
3 cloves garlic, minced
pepper
olive oil
1 pound Seitan, cubed
3 tbsp flour (I used white whole wheat)
1 cup young red wine
2 cups vegetable stock (or more if you are like me and have onions that are too big...)
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 bay leaf, whole
1 tsp fresh thyme

Directions:
1. Saute the Seitan in a casserole with some drops of olive oil until it is browned.  Put on a dish off to the side.
2. Prepare the onions: place the small onions in the same casserole with 1 tbsp of olive oil.  Saute until golden brown.  Add 3/4 cup of vegetable stock, or enough to almost cover the onions and let simmer for 20-25 minutes.  The onions should be tender, but keep their shape. Place on a dish and set off to the side.
3. Prepare the mushrooms: Saute the mushrooms with 1 tbsp of olive oil in the same casserole until nicely browned.  Set on a plate off to the side.
4. With the same casserole, saute the white onion and the carrots until golden brown.  Stir in the flour and keep on stirring for 3-4 minutes so that the veggies have a nice crust.
5. Add the garlic, thyme, bay leaf, pepper, stock, wine, and tomato paste. Stir everyone and bring to a simmer for 20 minutes or until the sauce starts to thicken.
6. Add the small onions, mushrooms, and Seitan to the casserole and stir everything together.  Cook for another couple of minutes.
7. Serve and enjoy :) We had some awesome red potatoes on the side!

Bon appetit!