It’s the third day of spring break! But this year I am staying in New York because I feel like I traveled too much when I was in France. Like I always do, I made up a little checklist for spring break composing of things I need to accomplish:

• writing more blogs
• invite a friend over for dinner
• apply for an internship and plan for summer
• do a lot of French exercises

The list goes on and on because there’s never enough time to finish the things in your life right? You have to choose what to prioritize at different times of your life, and during this spring break, I choose to prioritize this dinner gathering with my dear friend Nick.

Tonight, I am making Bœuf Bourguignon, a dish from the Burgundy region of France. It’s a beef and vegetable stew braised in red wine that’s so comforting and satisfying to eat during winter. Another entrée would be the Asparagus Walnut Farfalle Pasta that I just learned from Food Channel a day ago. Nick is bringing wine – you know he’s an awesome friend when he knows what he should do.

For Bœuf Bourguignon, you need:

• 2-3 pounds of boneless beef chunk
• 4 slices of bacon, cubed
• one bottle of wine
• 4 carrots cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1 onion
• 2 fresh peppers, grilled over stove fire and stripped
• 1 turnip cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• Bay leaves, a few stems of thyme, 3 strips of orange zest, 3 cloves, pepper and salt.

Marinating: After cutting the beef into chunks, and the carrots and turnips into 1 inch pieces, we put all the ingredients (except for the bacon) into a casserole to marinate in wine overnight.

Of course, you save a glass of wine for yourself.

The pepper is optional. However, since there really isn’t an authentic way of making Bœuf Bourguignon, I really wanted to add in two stove fire grilled pepper like in Ratatouille to add some smoky flavor. You can grill the pepper on fire for around 5 minutes until the skin is burnt.

Put in all the ingredients in a casserole to marinate in wine overnight.

Next, we drain out the wine from the ingredients, but don’t forget that we need to save up the wine to use later.

Next, in a heated casserole, put in two tablespoons of olive oil, and fry the beef evenly on high heat for around 5 minutes.

Next, put in all the vegetables, cubed bacon strips, and spices to fry for another 5-8 minutes until the onions are cooked down. Later, put in the 2 tablespoons of flour and mix it in with the ingredients.

It’s time to put in the wine we drained out. Mix everything well and bring the stew to a boil. Stay uncovered for 3-4 minutes for the wine to evaporate a little.

Last but not least, stew the Bœuf Bourguignon whether on the stove or in a pressure cooker for at least 2 1/2 hour. Lastly, season with salt to taste!

Bœuf Bourguignon

Bœuf Bourguignon and Asparagus Walnut Farfalle Pasta

Meet my good friend Nick. We met each other at a French speaking meet-up group. We have since been hanging out because we both speak French, like the same cultures, love food and love going out. It was a great pleasure to invite him over to dine and to go out for Saint Patrick’s day. Dinner gathering checked off on the spring break list!