SNOW DAY!

Can you believe it?! I actually got a snow day! WOOOHOOOO! I am 25 (5 days until I am 26, ah!) and I got a snow day! Holy moly what a day it was too!

The area I live in easily got 36″ of snow. I am not joking you when I say it is probably the biggest snowstorm I have ever seen. It started snowing at about 3am on Wednesday morning, I woke up at 6am to find out I had NO WORK, yesssssssss! The snow was steady until about 7pm that night and then it finally tapered off. I was literally outside shoveling snow probably 4 times yesterday. I was lucky enough to have a nice neighbor to come and plow the driveway…thank goodness…take a look at my snowy winter wonderland…

Can you believe all that snow?? And it just got worse…..

I mean literally, the snow just kept coming and coming and coming. For those of you who read my blog on a regular basis…you know that the snow that kept coming was making me happier and happier and HAPPIER! AH, I am such a snow person it is not even funny.

I love to watch snow, play in snow, make things out of snow, snowboard in the snow (which I would have done if I wasn’t shoveling). My Dad is currently out of town so I was in charge of taking care of all the snow duties. Which is fine but me but oh-my-gosh-am-I-sore-today! I used muscles I don’t think I have used in years yesterday haha.

You should have seen me at 6pm last night…”can I PLEEEEAASSSEE have a whiskey cocktail? Heavy on the whiskey please!!” haha 😉

I wasn’t joking when I told you that the snow was 36″ deep! I am still amazed that we have that much snow. Above is the walkway to the pool house, yea to the left is a pool…uhhuh you can’t tell haha

Anyways, during my breaks of shoveling and cleaning the snow up…I was watching the Cooking Channel, which is not to be confused with the Food Network. 2 difference stations apparently, don’t worry I didn’t know either ;-). Guess what was on yesterday at 2:00pm?? JULIA CHILD! Just yesterday I was watching the movie Julie & Julia, which for all you food bloggers out there if you have not seen that movie…watch it! It is about a girl who takes Julia Child’s cookbook and over a year she blogs about her mistakes and success’ of each recipe. It is really a good movie. But for those of you who HAVE seen it. You know the importance of Julia’s Boeuf Bourguignon. And GUESS what episode of Julia’s show they were showing….BOEUF BOURGUIGNON!! What a coincidence!

It was so amazing to actually watch Julia Child do it herself. I mean I have seen the movie when she makes it, but it was kind of incredible to me to actually watch her do it. She was so unorthodox about everything she did, and it was wonderful!

I personally have not made this recipe but I would really love to try it one day.

Ingredients

Cooking Directions

Remove bacon rind and cut into lardons (sticks 1/4-inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and lardons for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts water. Drain and dry.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Sauté lardons in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a flameproof casserole over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon.

Dry beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Heat fat in casserole until almost smoking. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, and sauté until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the lardons.

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the excess fat.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes.

Toss the meat again and return to oven for 4 minutes (this browns the flour and coves the meat with a light crust).

Remove casserole and turn oven down to 325 degrees.

Stir in wine and 2 to 3 cups stock, just enough so that the meat is barely covered.

Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs and bacon rind. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove.

Cover casserole and set in lower third of oven. Regulate heat so that liquid simmers very slowly for 3 to 4 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms.

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons butter with one and one-half tablespoons of the oil until bubbling in a skillet.

Add onions and sauté over moderate heat for about 10 minutes, rolling them so they will brown as evenly as possible. Be careful not to break their skins. You cannot expect them to brown uniformly.

Add 1/2 cup of the stock, salt and pepper to taste and the herb bouquet.

Cover and simmer slowly for 40 to 50 minutes until the onions are perfectly tender but hold their shape, and the liquid has evaporated. Remove herb bouquet and set onions aside.

Wipe out skillet and heat remaining oil and butter over high heat. As soon as you see butter has begun to subside, indicating it is hot enough, add mushrooms.

Toss and shake pan for 4 to 5 minutes. As soon as they have begun to brown lightly, remove from heat.

When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan.

Wash out the casserole and return the beef and lardons to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms on top.

Skim fat off sauce in saucepan. Simmer sauce for a minute or 2, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly.

If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons stock. Taste carefully for seasoning.

Pour sauce over meat and vegetables. Cover and simmer 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times.

Serve in casserole, or arrange stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles or rice, and decorated with parsley.

I hope you all are having a great week!