ORANGE SCENTED BEEF DAUBE

ORANGE SCENTED BEEF DAUBE

A fancy French word for a oven braised meat stew.

1 lb beef, 1″ cube (I used leftover scraps from trimming a whole tenderloin, but you can use whatever you can afford. The long cooking time will make any cut very tender.)

4 thin slices of Pancetta

1 T olive oil

1 medium onion, diced into 1/2 in pieces

2 cloves of garlic-peeled but left whole

1 28oz can of Roma-style tomatoes (also called San Marzano), pureed (You puree it, it doesn’t come that way and NO, you cannot just use tomato sauce, it won’t taste right)

3 C. dry white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc), divided 1C/2C

Juice and grated zest of medium/large orange (Sorry, did not measure this. Won’t matter.)

1 6-8″ sprig of fresh rosemary

1 fresh bay leaf (yes, you can use dried)

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 325f.

2. On medium heat, saute the pancetta in the olive oil until golden brown and crispy. Remove and let drain and cool. Crumble.

3. In the same pan, brown the beef on all sides. (Do this in batches that allow space between the cubes. Doing them all at once will result in dry tasting, gray meat.) Remove from pan and set to the side.

4. In the same pan, saute the onions until golden. Remove from the pan and set to the side.

5. Add the whole garlic cloves to the pan and saute until golden brown. Remove and set to the side.

6. Turn the heat to medium high. Deglaze the pan with 1 C. of the wine and then reduce the the liquid to 1/2 C.

7. In an oven-safe casserole dish (Preferably one with a lid; seal with a sheet of foil if not.) combine all the ingredients. Try to keep the ingredients at a single level. If you can’t, make sure that the
liquid is level with the top of meat. (or at least half level–classic braising style) If it isn’t add some beef stock or broth until it does.

8. Tightly seal the casserole. Cook at 325f for 2-3 hours. Remove from the oven. Taste and adjust for taste with the salt and pepper. Remove the bay leaf and the rosemary and the garlic. I usually serve this
with buttered noodles or mashed potatoes.

Makes about 4 servings