We got beef for christmas with no idea of what our menu would be like. My hubby kept saying nothing Indian or spicy but I was clueless as to what I wanted to experiment. Beef bourguignon was pain staking and I had no oven to experiment it. Beef stroganoff was something I aspired to do but I could not find sour cream. So finally I went ahead and experimented my version of beef in red wine. Cooking with wine is a delight for me always half of it ends inside my mouth and a bit into my casserole. So I went ahead and tried this recipe. I had some beans, mushrooms and baby potatoes in store so I used them. It felt nice using shallots in a casserole because for us South Indians the shallots never cross the threshold of sambar and chutney. I missed not having baby corn and carrots maybe you could try that.
Ingredients for Beef in red wine
Beef ( Please get bigger chunks mine was too small)
Red wine- 1 cup
Oregano- 2 tsp
Thyme- 1 tsp
Rosemary- 2 tsp
Pepper ( crushed) - 1 tsp
Rice vinegar- 2tbsp
Baby potatoes- 250 gm
Mushroom- 200gm
Beans- 250gm
Shallots- 50 gm
Onion- 4 large
Flour- 2tbsp
Butter- 100gm
Olive oil- 2 tbsp
Rice- 2 cups
Directions
Beef casserole
Marinate the beef in wine, oregano, thyme, rosemary, salt and vinegar for 3 hours.
In a skillet heat olive oil and fry the marinated beef.
Once the beef is drained on a paper towel, in the same oil fry the potatoes, beans, mushroom and shallots. I did this separately and not all together.
In a casserole now layer the bottom with potatoes followed by beef interspersed with mushrooms, beans and shallots. Sprinkle crushed pepper, oregano, thyme and rosemary once again.
Bake this casserole for 30 minutes. I baked it in m microwave oven so, 30 minutes is according to my microwave oven if you have an oven it might just need 15 minutes bake as all the ingredients are partially cooked.
Brown sauce
For sauce with the beef casserole I made brown sauce which is very easy. You just need to heal butter saute the onions till the are real deep brown and then add the flour this will look brown in colour and add salt and water to make a thick sauce. Just be careful that you dont burn the onion which will turn the sauce bitter and if its not done the right way you wont achieve the perfect brown colour either.
Onion rice
Heat butter in a pan and fry the onions till they are deep brown like we did for brown sauce. Into this browned onions pour water. My measurements are usually 2 cups of water for 1 cup rice. I used basmati rice though I have often tried this sona masoori too. Cover the rice with water. Add salt in between depending on your taste. If you don't like adding salt to rice that's fine too since we had beef and sauce I could have avoided this but my family consumes too much salt so I added salt to the rice. When the rice is cooked the water would have evaporated completed and rice would be non sticky. If you follow the ratio mentioned above you would not need to add more water. Some times people add more water and make the rice sticky kindly avoid this. I don't add any other spices to this rice but if you want it spicy you can add cardamoms, bay leaves and cinnamon.
Hope you all enjoy these dishes and do send me some comments. I would love to hear your experiences.
Labels: beef
