Matt's Recipes

Beet Bourguignon

Vegan Stew

Yield4 servingsPrep20minCook45minTotal1h 5min

Beet Bourguignon

Bœuf bourguignon one letter over — beets instead of beef, with big chunks of portobello for texture and pearl onions seared separately. Served over puy lentils. From The Green Kitchen (David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl).

Ingredients

Stew

  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 brown onion, chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 8 small beetroots, peeled and quartered
  • 6 carrots, sliced in large pieces
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 sprigs thyme
  • Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 2 tablespoons tomato purée
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 2 ¼ cups vegetable stock
  • 2 teaspoons arrowroot, dissolved in 2 tablespoons water

Lentils

  • 2 cups puy lentils
  • A pinch of sea salt

Mushrooms and onions

  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 to 3 portobello mushrooms, sliced
  • 10 crimini mushrooms
  • 10 pearl onions, peeled
  • A few sprigs thyme, leaves picked, to garnish

Instructions

  1. Heat the olive oil in a thick-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic and sauté until soft. Add the beetroot, carrots, bay leaves, thyme, salt, and pepper and cook 5 minutes, stirring now and then.

  2. Stir in the tomato purée, red wine, and stock. Simmer on low heat 20 minutes.

  3. Meanwhile, rinse the lentils. Bring 4 cups water and the lentils to a boil, lower to medium, and simmer gently 15 to 20 minutes. Salt them when almost cooked. Drain off any excess water, cover, and set aside.

  4. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, lower the heat, and sear the mushrooms and pearl onions, stirring occasionally, until tender and golden. Season and set aside.

  5. Taste the stew and adjust the wine, stock, or herbs. Stir in the arrowroot mixture gently, just until thickened and clear.

  6. Add the mushrooms and onions and simmer 10 minutes more. Remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Spoon into bowls over the lentils and scatter with fresh thyme.

Notes

Chioggia beets are what the book uses — the candy-striped ones. Ordinary red beets work and give a darker stew.

Sear the mushrooms and pearl onions in their own pan. Cooked in the stew they go grey and give up their water.

Use a vegan wine if that matters to you; most reds are fined with animal products.

Root mash instead of lentils is the other pairing the book suggests.

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