Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon

Beef Bourguignon is a French dish usually braised in red wine – I’m glad you can’t hear how I’m butchering this word.  I’m blaming it on the fact that I took Spanish in high school and Italian in college, sorry no French.  No matter how you pronounce “Bourguignon,” one word that I know and love is “slow cooker.”  My slow cooker has been my life saver recently.  Things have been so hectic around our house, and it’s nice to have dinner waiting for us when we get home.  I’ve made this dish before, but never in my slow cooker.  I made a few tweaks to my original recipe, and I must say that this dish in the slow cooker is amazing.  The meat is so tender and the flavors are wonderful because they have such a nice, long time marinating together.  I cooked some whole wheat egg noodles to serve the beef on top of.  You could use whatever carbohydrate you’d like.  Definitely try this one in your slow cooker… you’ll be so happy you did!

Ingredients:

• 6 strips maple bacon
• 3 pounds stew beef cubes
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• Sea salt and fresh ground pepper for sprinkling
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1 1/4 cup beef broth
• 2 cups red wine (I used Cabernet)
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, plus more for sprinkling
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 pound fresh cremini mushrooms, sliced
• Egg noodles

Directions:

1. Sauté bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon and place on paper towels off to the side.
2. Add beef cubes to skillet and brown. Remove meat and set aside.
3. Cook carrots, onion, and celery in skillet until brown, about 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Stir flour in broth and mix well.  Add to skillet.
5. Add beef and bacon to skillet and mix.  Place entire mix in bottom of slow cooker.
6. Add wine, tomato paste, garlic, bay leaf, parsley, and mushrooms to slow cooker.
7. Cook on low for 5-6 hours or until thoroughly cooked.
8. Boil water and cook egg noodles according to directions.
9. Serve beef mixture over egg noodles and sprinkle with fresh parsley.