Mark Bittman's Boeuf Bourguignon

Mark Bittman's Boeuf Bourguignon

It's time for IHCC's monthly Mystery Box Madness Challenge again!

Modus operandi is the same: we can choose a dish from Diana Henry or any previous ten IHCC chefs. This time round, the chosen dish must contain at least three of these mystery ingredients: bacon, mushrooms, thyme, cucumber, cumin, leeks, apricots, pistachios, ricotta, orange flower water.

I love the ingredients! All - except orange flower water - are pretty easy to find. So, the challenge now is to find the chef, one his/her dish that I'd love to cook, and most importantly, perfect for a weekday dinner! :D

First of all, I chose my favorite three ingredients, then I added one of the 10 chefs' name, then I did a Google search. After a few tries, I chose Mark Bittman's Boeuf Bourguignon. And here are the three mystery ingredients: bacon, mushrooms, thyme.
 

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:

(Serves 2)

1 tablespoon olive oil
4 slices bacon, cut into bits
300g stewing beef chunks
Salt and pepper to taste
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 or 4 thyme sprigs
2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 cup beef stock
12 brown button mushrooms, cut into quarters

How to:

1. Heat up olive oil in a deep pan over medium heat. Add bacon bits and stir occasionally, until they are crisp, about 10 minutes. Remove from pan.

2. Add beef chunks and turn heat to medium-high. Stir until they turn brown and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Remove from pan.

3. Turn heat to medium, and add onions, thyme, garlic, and parsley. Cook until onion softens. Add beef stock and let it bubble for a minute, then return beef to pan.

4. Cover and adjust heat so mixture simmers gently for about half an hour, then add mushrooms and bacon. Re-cover, and cook until tender, adding some water if mixture is drying out too much. Serve with steamed rice.

I'm linking this post with I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC) for this week's theme, Mystery Box Madness: March 2015!

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Previous Mystery Box Madness recipes:

February 2015: Round and Round Pasta (Giada De Laurentiis)

January 2015: Blueberry Buttermilk Cake (Tessa Kiros)

December 2014: Curried Lentil Soup with Potatoes (Mark Bittman) 

November 2014: Date, Apricot, Chia Seeds Tea Bread (adapted from Diana Henry)