An Anniversary Dinner

Tuesday happened to mark our 27th anniversary

and as the dear husband had to attend a function in his duties as president of his

chamber of commerce,

I was forced to rethink our anniversary dinner.

What to make,

what to make?

What would Rosie Hawthorne do?

To start with, I went to the grocery store with the idea to let the sales guide me.

Somewhere along the way I knew I would find a beef roast of some sort that would be on sale.

And I had the feeling that a beef bourguignon was on the menu.

Now I just had to find a recipe.

Of course I Googled it and found a recipe from Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa.

With apologies to Ina,

I then proceeded to butcher the recipe.

My mise en place:

thick-sliced bacon

beef roast

onion

mushrooms

carrots

celery

beef stock

kosher salt

black pepper

dried thyme

Shiraz wine

flour

garlic cloves

tomato paste

After frying the bacon lardons, I seared the cubed beef roast.

This is important:

When searing meat in a stainless steel or cast iron pan,

let the meat "tell" you when to turn it.
When it releases from the pan, it is time to turn.

And not a moment before.

After the meat was seared and removed to the slow cooker,

the vegetables were then cooked in the same pan.

Then the red wine was added and the pan was deglazed.

Remember, we are fond of fond.

I chose to finish this dish in the slow cooker since my husband would not be home until late.

Towards the end of the cooking time,

I sauteed the mushrooms and added those along with

the beurre manie (butter and flour mixture)

to the slow cooker.

Can't you just see all the flavors?

This was delightful, served along with some buttered noodles.

And as a bonus, this dish was even better the next day.