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Carbonade valdostana

Total Time3 hours

Ingredients

  • 1 kilo 2 lbs stewing beef, cut into cubes or strips
  • Flour
  • 1 large onion finely minced
  • 50 g 2 oz butter, plus a drizzle of vegetable oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • Red wine
  • A variety of aromatic herbs and spices of your choice see Notes

Instructions

  • Cut the beef either into cubes or large strips, as you prefer. Lightly flour the cubes or strips and brown them in the butter in a large braising pan until golden brown on all sides. The flame should be lively, but be careful to adjust the temperature so the butter doesn't burn. (A drizzle of vegetable oil helps to this end, even if it's not traditional.) Make sure the pieces are well-spaced so they brown nicely; proceed in batches if you need to. Remove the pieces from the pan as they're done.
  • Add the onion to the pan and sauté gently until the onion is soft and translucent, seasoning with salt and pepper as you go. Add back the beef and turn everything together, seasoning again. Let the beef and onions simmer together for a few minutes, then add enough red wine to barely cover the beef. Nestle the herbs and spices in the pot among the beef pieces.
  • Cover and let the pot simmer very gently until the beef is perfectly tender, about 1-1/2 to 2 hours, depending on the quality of beef and the size of your pieces. Be sure to stir from time to time, as the sauce tends to stick to the bottom of the pot. Add more wine or water if need be to keep things moist and loose, but let the sauce reduce towards the end.
  • Serve piping hot over freshly made polenta.

Notes

To give your carbonade valdostana that real old-fashioned flavor, sprinkle the meat with a dry marinade of salt and aromatic herbs and spices, place in a covered bowl and let rest in the fridge for a day or more before cooking. Otherwise, be generous, especially with the salt, when you season your carbonade.
The herbs and spices are "a piacere"—whatever you fancy—but typical and very nice option would be a cinnamon stick, a few cloves, a generous scrape of nutmeg, freshly grated pepper, a bay leaf, a sprig or two of thyme and a few sage leaves.