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Food to impress

Do you want everyone to know you’re a culinary genius? Impress your roommates with a special Christmas dinner, impress a new date or cook for a birthday party? You will easily find inspiration in the excitingly special dishes in this chapter.

Here is one recipe you can try. For more recipes, you can buy the cookbook Food for Students from September 2 at the beach club, in the WUR shop and in the webshop for €14.95.

Boeuf Bourguignon

Dinner
Serves 6
Meat

  • 1 kilo rib of beef (in Dutch: riblappen), room temperature
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 onions, in rings
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • ½ bottle red wine
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 3 sprigs of thyme
  • 1 laurel leaves
  • 3 carrots, sliced
  • 250 g mushrooms, quartered
  • 120 g bacon, diced or sliced
  • 1,5 kg floury potatoes, peeled and in pieces
  1. Cut the meat in 5 cm cubes.
  2. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large frying-pan and fry the meat on high heat. Best to do this in two sessions to enable the meat to brown quickly and well. Remove the browned meat with a draining spoon to a plate.
  3. Heat the remaining oil and fry the onions on low heat. Put the meat back into the pan and add the flour. This will thicken the sauce later on in the process. Fry for 2 minutes until the meat is golden brown, then add the wine. The meat should be completely covered so add more wine or water if necessary.
  4. Bring to the boil on medium heat, then turn down the heat and use a draining spoon to remove the froth, if any.
  5. Add garlic, herbs, carrot and bacon. Put on the lid and leave to simmer on low heat for 2 to 3 hours or longer if necessary. Stir occasionally. Test the tenderness of the meat: it should be very tender and shred easily.
  6. Add the potatoes for the last 45 minutes. They will thicken the sauce even more.

Tips

Cook this dish a day before serving. It will taste even better.
A kilo and a half of potatoes may be too much for small eaters. For them, use 150 to 200 gram potatoes per person.
Of course, the potatoes can also be boiled separately. Or serve the Boeuf Bourguignon with crispy French bread or boiled rice.
Obviously, you drink the other half of the bottle of red wine yourself!
The dish should bubble and simmer rather than boil. If necessary, use an old-fashioned simmer plate between the pan and the heat.

Cécile de La Fortelle, France, MSc Food Technology

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