"beef recipe" news and stories

We're prepping our ingredients for Gardiane La Camargue, French beef stew in the style of the cowboys Francais in the Camargue, south of Arles. The dish is from Patricia Wells' Bistro Cooking.

Whoops! A few hours have passed since we cut the meat into 3- or 4-ounce pieces. Sorry about that, the baby that was getting into the cat food last time, I realized he'd better have some human food. Oh well, such is life. Now it's time to prep the carrots, onions and garlic. The instructions just say "garlic cloves," not "minced" or "peeled" or "unpeeled."

Hmmm. I decided to just peel them and crush just a bit in the process (I smack them with the wide edge of my knife to loosen the skins). My cloves look a little small... so I use eight or nine. I love garlic. I decide to toss it all in. A little extra garlic never hurt anyone. Right?

Today we'll be prepping our ingredients for Gardiane La Camargue, French beef stew in the style of the cowboys Francais in the Camargue, south of Arles. The dish is from Patricia Wells' Bistro Cooking. It's one day before serving and time to combine:

• 4-5 pounds stewing beef, cut into cubes weighing about four ounces each
• five cloves garlic
• 2-3 medium yellow onions, cut into rounds
• 4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch lengths
• 1 bottle red wine such as Côtes-du-Rhône

The first thing I'm going to do is figure out what a four-ounce cube of beef should look like. I didn't ask my butcher to cut them, as recommended in Wells' recipe. Hmm...

We all miss Sara Moulton's Cooking Live like crazy. But instead of continuing to whine and complain about it, we're taking measures. Until we launch the Slashfood Network, we're just gonna bring the live cooking to you via blog.

Each Friday evening one of your lovely hosts or hostesses will be making a new or favorite dish with you. This week, I'll be hosting gardiane La Camargue, La Camargue's Beef Stew with Black Olives, from Patricia Wells' Bistro Cooking. As Patricia says, the gardiane is from France's "cowboy country" and is a stew of beef, black olives and red wine.

This recipe requires some advance prep so we'll be starting the dish on Thursday evening. In the meantime, you'll need to head to the grocery store for the following ingredients:

• 4-5 pounds stewing beef (like round and chuck)
• garlic
• 2-3 medium yellow onions
• 4 carrots
• 1 bottle red wine such as Côtes-du-Rhône
• 4 ounces oil-cured black olives

You should have olive oil, thyme and bay leaves in your pantry, but if you don't, add those to your list. You'll need a large, non-reactive bowl (like glass or stoneware) and a large, non-reactive casserole or pot that can go on the stovetop and in the oven (cast iron would work great). OK, see you tomorrow evening! larger scan after the jump