The Perfect Company's Coming Dinner - Crockpot Boeuf Bourguignon

I can just hear Julia Child right now in my kitchen - Today we are going to prepare Boeuf Bourguignon!  Sounds complicated, right?  Wrong, this is almost as easy as making spaghetti!  Finding Joy in My Kitchen delivers a wonderful crockpot version.  Which is even easier than the very simple way I did it on the cooktop.  That is what happens when you have to grocery shop on the day you are preparing a crockpot meal.  I would have been able to still thrown all the goodies in the crock had my day moved a bit faster.  I wasn't comfortable with starting the crockpot on High at 2 for dinner last night.  So I improvised - and it was SO EASY!
Big Guy sat down for dinner, took one bite and said, "OH MY!".  And then there was silence!  This meal is a 5 STAR winner!  If you need an impressive tasting meal for company (family, friends, the boss), this is a guaranteed winner!
Here is Finding Joy in My Kitchen's Boeuf Bourguignon: (for 2 adults, and 2 kids, I 1/2 the recipe and it worked out perfectly!)
Crockpot Boeuf Bourguignon - Adapted from Sarah's Musings

~ 8 T of bacon bits (or 6 strips of bacon, diced)
3 pounds of stew beef, cubed
3 large carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 medium onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
3 T flour
1 can (14 oz) beef broth/stock
1 C red wine
1 T tomato paste
1 tsp. thyme
1 large bay leaf
1/2 lb. frozen white pearl onions
1 lb. fresh white mushrooms, sliced
1/2 tsp. butter


Cook bacon in a skillet until crispy.  Remove the bacon to drain on a paper towel; leaving the bacon drippings in the pan.  Add meat cubes to the skillet and brown well.  If you use bacon bits, just brown the meat with a little olive oil, adding bacon bits to cook along with the beef.
Place browned meat in the crockpot.  Add carrots, garlic, and onion.  Season with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle flour- this is to thicken and create a gravy.  Stir in beef broth and mix well.  Add tomato paste, wine, bacon, bay leaf and pearl onions.  Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours.  About an hour prior to eating, saute mushrooms in melted butter.  Add sliced mushrooms.  Give it a good stir.  Cover again.  Serve over rice or we had a side of mashed potatoes.







Beef browned on cooktop in skillet, carrots and onions cooking.

Flour added, Stir well.

Wine added (I used a Merlot we enjoy drinking)

Tomato Past added.  What do you do with the extra in the can????  Check out this idea!

I added mushrooms directly to the pan since I was cooking on the cooktop.

Final Yummy Result!

Linked to Full Plate Thursday