How about Beef Bourguignon & Fennel Gratin for Valentine's day dinner

Beef Bourguignon. What is it? I did not know about it until I watch it on Tyler Florence (again!) cooking show. It seems something like French beef stew cooked in red wine and cognac. This is pretty time consuming dish but the process is very easy. I just had to cook it for a long time.

I was thinking about some kind of comfort food to eat on a cold winter day and came across this dish. This is something I never tried and I wanted to try some dish which is time consuming :-)

I used cheap cut of meat for this dish since I will be cooking for a long time. This is sauteing the beef.

Then added lots of red wine, cognac, beef broth and some other ingredients and cook for a while.

While cooking the stew in simmer, saute mushroom and pearl onion.

Add them in to the mixture and cook even more until meat is fork tender.

I was little bit worried if the meat will be tender. I tried one and it was very tender! It tasted really good even though it was bit too salty ( I think this was because I used regular beef broth instead of low-sodium beef broth with was required in the recipe)

I think it will be great if I cook this is 'Le Creuset" but since I don't have it, I just used a big pasta pot and it worked out perfectly. I added some heavy cream and chopped parsley for the final touch. Doesn't it look like something you can get at a restaurant? I am pretty happy with how it came out.

However maybe because I was cooking very long and having a taste test here and there, I was not hungry anymore at dinner time :-)

My husband liked it a lot. I think this is a very good dish but something which you would eat a lot. This is great with French baguette.

Here is the link to Tyler Florence's Beef Bourguignon recipe on Food Network site. 

Also, as a side dish I made Fennel Gratin. I was not familiar with this vegetable until recently. I am trying to use some vegetables which I haven't used it before. I think Fennel have a pretty strong taste if you eat it raw but when you eat like this as gratin, it was very mild and great.

This Beef Bourguignon is perfect for Valentine's day's romantic dinner with candle lights, nice music and a glass of wine. If you are planning to have a romantic dinner on Valentine's day with your loved one, try this dish. Or if you have lots of leftover red wine and cognac, this is a good dish to make. (Well, you can also drink them :-) )