the frenchman’s recipe and cooking as a team ….

I don’t really remember when it started, but it seems like a while ago now … this thing we do when friends come over for dinner.

I suppose it is called sharing  tasks at hand, but it was never discussed or negotiated, it just sort of happened; once, then twice and before you knew it, we had a Tradition going on here.   It’s not rocket science,  just one of those little things that make a household run smoothly, and makes this blogger particularly appreciate her French husband.

What I’m talking about is preparing meals.  My husband is a Fine cook.  He comes from a long line of Very Fine cooks, and cooking is not only  in his blood, it’s  something he loves.

I can cook good family food, and although I shouldn’t say it, my desserts are well spoken of, but I shall never have that panache and in-bred instinct that comes down through the generations … if you’re lucky.

And that is why, if ever you come here for dinner, I’ll be happy if you compliment me on the way the table’s laid; and I’d smile graciously if you enjoy the first course and I’ll be worried if you don’t like the dessert …. but for the main course, non!  I’ll take no credit there, because  all the work will be my husbands!

So today here is the recipe for a man’s dish: la daube.    Tender meat, marinated and cooked slowly, served with pasta or preferably gnocchi.

To make a hearty dinner for 4 – 6, you will need:

4 – 5 lbs of boneless beef for braising, with the fat cut away and the meat in large cubes

1 bottle of red wine

3 carrots, peeled and cubed

1 onion with a couple of cloves stuck in the sides

2 garlic cloves, sprig rosemary

a good sized strip of pancetta, or the end piece from a cured ham (this is essential to the flavour of the stew)

1 large onion and 2 cloves of garlic, chopped

olive oil, 5 tps of flour

Firstly you need to marinate the meat, in the bottle of red wine with the ham end, the carrots and garlic cloves certainly overnight, and if you can marinate if for 24 hours, in the fridge of course, then all the better.

Next day, drain away the marinade, but keep it preciously to one side.    Pat the cubes of meat with kitchen paper, sprinkle with salt and pepper and sear them quickly on all sides in a pan.   Reserve the meat on a plate while you  lightly cook the chopped onion and garlic in olive oil.

For the next bit we use a large oven proof dish, but if you don’t have that, then a heavy based pan over the heat will do just as well.

Now put the seared meat, the ham piece, the fried onions and garlic into your heavy pan.  Sprinkle with flour, add salt and pepper, the rosemary sprig and a couple of bay leaves.  Add a little oil, then gently turn up the heat until the flour begins to cook.  Now reach for that precious marinade and slowly add it to the pan, stirring well to avoid the flour forming lumps.   You can let the carrot pieces and the onion with the cloves drop into the pan too, although they will be removed for serving, as will the herbs.

If you are cooking over the heat then bring the pan to a slow bubble and let it simmer, covered,  very gently for about 2 hours.   If after that time the sauce seems thin, then remove the lid and leave to simmer for another 30 – 40 minutes.

Same thing in the oven, bring to boil, then leave it simmering at around 200° for a couple of hours, and uncover to thicken if required.

I have seen this dish served with rice, but nobody in this household would approve of that!

Here we either like a big pasta like a fettucci, or small delicous gnocchi, and if I get to choose then I think polenta works really well too.

Bon appetit!