On Sundays when I have nothing much planned, I like to cook hearty stews. Therapeutic to stir and taste and add herbs, stews gently simmer for many hours on the stove or in the oven, filling the entire house with delicious smells and the warmth of a home. They don't need very much effort to prepare or cook and their flavours improve with keeping, making it entirely possible and even desirable to cook up a large batch and store leftovers for easy dinners over the working week.
Last Sunday's stew was the classic French dish, Boeuf Bourguignon (beef stew in red wine with onions and mushrooms). I used Julia Child's recipe as a reference but did not follow all the steps that closely, being susceptible to shortcuts and not wanting to spend a small fortune on pearl onions. Even then, this turned out to be stupendous, one of the best things I have ever cooked. I almost swooned as I took my first taste....the sauce was fabulously rich and flavourful; the beef tender from the long slow braising; the tiny braised onions sweet and soft and wine-y....
We had the stew for dinner on Sunday night, and the remainder on a weekday night accompanied by warm toasted baguette - it tasted even better if that is at all possible - and we mopped up every single bit of the sauce. What a meal!
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