Carbonnade à la Flamande

This afternoon I took The Aluminum Falcon (as I’m calling him temporarily) out to the grocery store for the first time. His hatchback trunk holds a lot of groceries, all nice and neatly stacked. He has a “cargo net,” although I’m not quite sure yet what it’s for. Maybe to hold breakable things? It does seem to prevent things from sliding all over the place.

I’m really happy about having a new car. Did I mention that this is the first new car that I have ever had? It’s also a first for Doc. My Saturn was a year old when I bought it in 1998; my Honda Accord was five years old when I bought it from my parents in 1995. I loved that car and hated to sell it, but it kept having the same problems over and over again and I got tired of paying multiple hundreds of dollars to get it fixed every few months. And my 1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, which was never really “mine” per se, was the car that I learned to drive on and had full-time my senior year in college. It had no air conditioning and would die at every stoplight when the temperature was below 60 degrees. But it just wouldn’t stop running. At times I wished it would.

Today was nice and sunny and cold outside, so of course I was completely in the mood to cook all day. I made a dozen banana muffins and a mini loaf of banana bread, a fruit salad, some fresh squeezed grapefruit juice, and a delicious beef stew called Carbonnade à la Flamande. Normally I’m not much of a beef stew fan, or a beef fan in general unless it’s in the form of a hamburger or a cheesesteak sandwich. But this was very tasty. It also garnered the Murdock Seal of Approval, which is always an honor.

Carbonnade à la Flamande

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 1/2 pounds boneless chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
4 strips bacon, diced (uncooked)
1 cup chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (14-ounce) can beef broth
1 cup water
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried)
2 bay leaves
1 (12-ounce) bottle dark beer
Freshly cooked brown rice

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Seal; shake to coat.

Turn the heat on a crockpot or slow-cooker to high.

Heat a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add bacon to pan; cook 1 minute. Add beef mixture; cook 3 minutes or until browned. Remove beef from pan.

Add onion and garlic to pan; sauté 2 minutes. Add broth and water, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.

Place beef in the crockpot. Add broth/onion mixture, brown sugar, vinegar, tomato paste, mustard, thyme,bay leaves, and beer. Let simmer 2 hours on high, and another hour on low heat, or until beef is tender. Discard bay leaves.

Serve over hot cooked brown rice.