If you google the french dish Bœf B-o-u-r-g-u-i-g-n-o-n (phew) you will see Julia Child’s classic recipe everywhere. Talk about making an impression and leaving a footprint. We were looking it up since we have been experiencing a couple cold winter weeks here in Sweden and couldn’t imagine a dish more suitable for this climate than a warm and hearty stew. The Beef Bourguignon is made on beef and bacon, so not the most appropriate dish for vegetarians. But we reckoned that there must be a way to transform that rich, wine oozing hot pot into something more in our taste. After a few experiments it turns out that we were only one letter away. We turned beef into beet. We also added large chunks of mushrooms to give the stew the right texture and flavor.
We’re not sure what Julia Child would say if she tried our version of it. Probably “Oh dear no”. But except for replacing the meat we have actually had her recipe as our inspiration when creating this. We did however feel the need to increase the amount of vegetables (how can her recipe only call for one carrot in a whole stew?).
And how does it taste? Simply fantastic, if we may say so. It has got those deep and rich thyme and wine flavors, different sort of textures and a hint of sweetness. Indulgent winter food at its best.
We have seen many recipes combining this type of dish with pasta noodles. We prefer Puy lentils so that is what we paired it with. A potato mash would also work really good. Or perhaps both?
Beet Bourguignon
Serves at least 4 persons
This is one of those dishes that works well making a day in a advance. The flavors will become more intense and the vegetables more tender.
2 tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 small beets, peeled & quartered (we used Chioggia beets)
4 medium sized carrots, sliced in large pieces
2 sprigs thyme
sea salt & pepper to taste
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup red wine
2 cups vegetable stock
3 bay leaves
2 tsp arrowroot powder, solved in 2 tbsp water (optional)
2 cups puy lentils, for serving
4 cups water
a pinch of sea salt
2 tbsp olive oil
2-3 portobello mushrooms
10 champignon mushroom
10 small pearl onions, peeled
Cooking the stew: Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven or a large cast iron pot over medium heat. Stir in onions and garlic, sauté until soft. Toss beets, carrots, thyme and salt and pepper into the pan, cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the tomato paste, red vine, vegetable stock and bay leaves, let simmer on low heat for 40 minutes. Meanwhile prepare the lentils, mushrooms and pearl onions.
Preparing the Puy lentils: Rinse lentils under running water. Bring water to a boil, add lentils and lower to medium heat. Let simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, when almost done add salt. Set aside.
Searing the mushrooms and pearl onion: Heat olive oil in a pan. Lower the heat and sear the portobello, champignon mushrooms and pearl onions, stirring occasionally, until tender and golden in color. Season to taste. Set aside.
Finishing the stew: Taste the stew, add more wine, stock or herbs if you like. If you prefer the stew a little thicker, add arrowroot mixture, but this is optional. Add mushrooms and onions and simmer for 10 more minutes. To serve, spoon the stew over a plate of lentils and sprinkle with fresh thyme.
 |
Amy Winehouse is playing on the stereo. Elsa is dancing around my legs. Luise is furiously cleaning and refurnishing one of our cabinets with styling …
We had another post planned for this weekend but it didn’t turn out as we expected. Instead we have compiled a new list of things …
67 Comments
This looks so amazing! I love your recipes and philosophy on food, every time I come to your blog to check a new post, it makes me happy :) have a great weekend!
Beautiful guys! Will have to bookmark this one for when winter arrives here in Oz.
Yum and gulp! This dish is amazing. As a vegetarian I always wondered how the bourguignon tastes. Now I can taste it. I will definitely cook it.
What a beautiful vegetarian version of Boeuf Bourguignon.
I’m not vegetarian, but I typically cook vegetarian at home and this looks marvellous. While Puy lentils are an absolute favourite of mine, I have to admit your suggestion to serve over a potato mash is enticing! Thanks for sharing.
wow, i am absolutely positively making this. i have always wanted to try a vegan bourguignon and this is the one i will make ;) thank you for the fantastic recipe!
Another great recipe! (Broken record, anyone?) I’ve been dying to open up a nice bottle of red wine, but haven’t for fear I would have to (gasp) drink it all. Myself. Now I can happily give some to beets and mushrooms in good conscience.
This looks delicious, I’m going to try it when the weather gets cold again :)
I don’t think Julia would disapprove at all: She certainly had an adventuresome spirit, and I bet she was one dame who could appreciate a good beet every once in a while. (At least I like to think so.)
Regardless, however, I definitely approve: This whole situation looks incredible.
I’m marking this one down! Looks awesome!
I love this: a true classic interpreted in a new way. Have to make it. And I’m longing for lentils right now so that would be perfect too!
Great idea! That’s so crazy that Julia’s recipe only calls for one carrot. Delicious, bright dish. Thanks so much for sharing.
Haha, I totally read the post title as “beef” and thought, hmm, now that’s not GKS style! Then realized it was beet :) Great idea guys! I’ve never had the real thing, but your’s looks like a great veggie version!
Ha! Yes, a Beef Bourguignon would indeed be surprising.
/David
This looks truly wonderful! What an excellent idea, and so beautifully photographed. Thanks!
I think Julia would like it. She was always breaking the rules, right? I’m going to pass this onto my neighbor. Her whole family of 6 are vegetarian and she is always looking for good dinners to feed everyone.
Oh how beautiful this is!!! It looks like the perfect soothing, comforting wintery meal! I love these colours and the styling!
Thank you, Luise and David, for inspiring us to see the beauty of life and the simple things, like a Beet Bourguignon…
Warmly,
Rosie
i am awe of this recipe. so hearty and flavorful – i can’t wait to make it this week!
Whoa! This sounds awesome! Yum!
All I’m going to say – I just bought beet, mushrooms and lentils and I’m cooking this tomorrow! This meal that you prepared is so original, so unusual, but in the other hand so logic. When I saw it I was just thrilled with all the ingredients that you combined replacing those in the original recipe. Thank you for inspiring my recipes and my cooking. :)
p.s.: I’ll send you a link to my blog post when I put photos of beet bourguignon. :)
Thank you Nevena, please send us a link, we’d love to see it.
/David
Absolutely delicious :)
Amazing! I will make it this week for sure! Thanks!
After almost a year of reading your blog and trying your recipes, i thought it would be only appropriate to leave you a comment.
You guys are my idols, and probably one of the reasons why i finally told my finally i wanted to become a vegetarian. Your recipes only keep getting better and i don’t think i’ve tried one i haven’t liked. Family favorites now are the Involtinis and the Mango-Mint Zucchinni Spaghetti.
I also have shared your blog with a lot of people who are willing to eat more veggies, or try new things, and they’ve all been surprised by the taste of your dishes.
Finally, i just want to add that your pictures are amazing, and you’ve inspired me to also eat “pretty food”, arranging the meal in a way that it looks good and taking pictures of it.
Greetings to you three, from Mexico,
Gracia
Wow Gracia, thank you for those incredibly sweet words. I don’t think no one has ever called us their idols before. It totally made our day. We’re so glad that you and your family are finding our recipes useful. The Involtini and the zucchini spaghetti are also two of our favorites.
Much love
David, Luise & Elsa
This looks AMAZING!! I just added it to my meal plan for next week, can’t wait to try it. Thanks!!!
if you weren’t my kitchen heroes already, you are now!
Looks delicious! I’d love to try this.
Turning Boeuf Bourguignon into Beet Bourguignon: absolutely brilliant! You two and your kitchen never cease to amaze me. Thank you for the constant inspiration.
This is a beautiful adaptation! And pairing it with lentils or another protein rich grain seems perfect, sans boeuf.
This is genius! I love it.
Wow, what a great idea! I will be trying this soon, I hope. I just don’t think I will be able to find those special beets, I hope it works well with the boring red ones too.
Beautiful dish, which sounds every bit as good as the original. The mushrooms are the perfect addition to sneak that umami back into the dish without meat.
Such a smart idea, and so beautiful too. I love beets and my husband loves boeuf bourguignon (his mom is a huge Julia fan), so this is perfect!
looks loverly :) I’ve never tried the beef version, but this one seems much more intriguing. The only catch is, my husband and I can’t have mushrooms (lame, I know). Any substitute suggestions?
The other day I was thinking of trying something new with beets and here comes your beautiful recipe. I think Julia would be proud :-)
what a wonderful way to eat a hearty meal sans the meat. Will definitely try. I don’t really like beets, but by the looks of this dish, it might be an excellent way to enjoy that vegetable.
Can’t wait to try this. A good way to thicken the stew is also with pureed carrots. I am personally averse to arrowroot powder and this works well, making me feel extra healthy too!
Made this dish this evening and LOVED it! What a great way to cook beets. When frying the mushrooms I added a TINY bit of smoked spanish paprika – it added the smoked flavour that bacon normally adds to this dish. And I served it with mashed potatoes AND lentils – just perfect:) Thank you for a new favorite winter-dish!
“C’est magnifique!” I’ve always cooked Boeuf Bourguignon for my husband, mother-in-law or my family in France, but I never got to eat it since I am vegetarian. Your version looks amazing & delicious. I have a monthly Ladies Night gathering this Thursday, so I’ll be making your special Beet Bourguignon to share with all, I’ll let you know how it turns out. Thank you much. PS: Love that it is a gluten free recipe too. :-)
My mother used to do it. I’m trying not to eat much of meat lately, but will make an exception for this baby. Looks delicious.
So original! & gorgeous. Am definitely putting my hand to this beauty soon.
Ok, this looks delightful! Thank you soo much for putting this recipe on your site. I like to try new things and a beets recipe sounds interesting. This is one I would not have ever thought of to do. So, I will try it out on my family who will be coming over to visit this weekend.
Thanks again,
Grandma Kat
XOXOXOXOXO
i just finished reading julia’s “my life in france” the other day, and promptly watched some of her “the french chef” videos online… including boueff bourguignon. the very next day, you all posted this lovely recipe, so of course i HAD to try it asap! delicious! i used all red beets, giving it an extremely distinctive color, but otherwise followed the recipe to a T! i think julia would love the creative spirit behind this, even if it isn’t traditional la cuisine francais.
Mushrooms are the best part in this recipe. Yummm. Love It !
I just made this tonight—it was a success and I will make it again. I skipped the lentils and cooked barley in the stew, which also thickened it. The matching color of the wine and beets makes this a beautiful dish.
I added some dried (?), soaked chantarells i the stew and serverd it with celery root and goatcheese mash. Soooo yummie!
Made this and it was fabulous! Would recommend thickening the sauce otherwise it goes right through the lentils and you are left with a very watery puddle that is hard to enjoy, and believe me the juice is wonderful tasting!
I cannot wait to try this. I am so excited!
I made this last night and it was awesome! I halved the recipe and almost ate the entire pot. I added some baby turnips from my farm box and they were a nice addition with their creamy texture. Served with gluten free gnocchi. Also recommend thickening the sauce. Did not have arrowroot on hand and used tapioca starch. Thanks for an awesome recipe, this went into my personal cookbook to be added to the kitchen meal rotation. Yum!
Great dish! The red wine and beet juices made for the most beautiful ruby gravy. Wonderful earthy flavors.
I made your beet bourguignon this weekend, and it is absolutely marvelous! Every bite is decadent: pearl onions, mushrooms, beets and carrots each manage to keep their own distinct flavor, and they compliment each other so well!
Thank you for posting this recipe. I will certainly be making it again.
You have just butchered all my well-intentioned cooking plans for the weekend. I have ALL these ingredients but originally slated for other dishes… gah… My life has turned upside down! This looks so freaking fabulous. :)
This was one of the best recipes I have found on the internet. Served it with a side of sour cream mashed potatoes and it was superb. Smartest thing I did was make a double batch as I knew this was going to be a winner.
I cannot wait to try this! Replacing the beef with beets is genius. I made mushroom bourguignon for Christmas dinner and it was a huge hit. I adore beets and imagine this is so good! Thanks for sharing.
Clever! Would love to try this.
This looks so yummy! As Julia would say: “Bon Appetit”!
This is a fantastic recipe, I’ll make this for my birthday dinner this weekend! Looking forward to it!
I made this and it was WONDERFUL! Everyone loved it! I will make it for my mothers birthday next week. She isn’t a veggie and sometimes has doubts about our diet.
Looks wonderful. I’ll be trying this soon.
hi there.
I am so in love with your blog. been a lurker for a long time, and an occasional commenter.
This will probably be for dinner Sunday night, if beets are available at the main farmer’s market here in New York City — the one at Union Square. I will probably include some other root vegetables such as turnip, rutabaga and parsnips, in addition to what’s listed above.
Thank you for the inspiration, and for all you do. Happy new year.
S.
Great recipes, look forward to getting more!
Love this idea and I have most of the ingredients in the fridge already!
Okay, so we had it for dinner tonight and the carnivore love of my life didn’t even miss his beef. What a wonderful recipe. It was delicious. He even said when walking into the house, “man something smells good”. ;)
P.S. And the original Beef Bourguignon is one of his favourites, so compliments to you guys or is that guy and two girls. x
LOVED this recipe. Seriously, so great. We have been vegetarian for 3 months now and this website has become our recipe bible. We moved from the US to New Zealand 3 months ago and are getting used to being expats abroad and cooking like Kiwi’s in a vegetarian way. We have loved all your recipes we have tried but ESPECIALLY this one :)
Cheers!
Brittany & Michael
Holy cow, this sounds AMAZING! I will definitely be making this next week.
17 Trackbacks
[...] 10. Beet Bourguignon – Green Kitchen Stories [...]
[...] Beet (not beef) Bourguignon – Green Kitchen Stories Share this:Share [...]
[...] Beet Bourguinon served with lentils and mashed [...]
[...] Beet Bourguignon via Green Kitchen Stories: A veggie version of Julia Child’s famous Boeuf Bourguignon? Sign me up! Share this:MoreLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. [...]
[...] David and Luise from Green Kitchen Stories made a beet bourguignon [...]
[...] I cook from the wonderful Green Kitchen Stories ‘Beet Bourguignon‘ the recipe seem elaborate but actually turns out fairly simply to make. I [...]
[...] currently living (and yes he did take down a construction sign and drag it for 4 blocks). Made this stew. Went to the Maritime Museum. Got Indian Takeaway and ate it at the train station. Learned the hard [...]
[...] chance to add to my list of mushroom recipes is okie dokie with me. So when I saw this beet bourguignon entrée featured on Green Kitchen Stories, I was completely stoked. Serve it with your favorite [...]
[...] but wanted something lighter, with less oil and flour. I tried recipe after recipe, without avail. Beet bourguignon did not satisfy. Beans bourguignon from 1000 Vegan Recipes was ok but not quite up to my high [...]
[...] offering was inspired by this post on beet bourguignon on one of my favorite food blogs, Green Kitchen Stories. I first stumbled upon the recipe several [...]
[...] how to eat a plant based diet, but making sure it’s super tasty. A while back I made their Beet Bourguignon dish and really liked it, but I must admit, something was missing for me. I’ve always loved [...]
[...] recipes. I’d imagined the first recipe I would cook from their site would be the intriguing Beet Bourguignon, but then I remembered that I actually don’t know anyone apart from me who likes beetroot, so [...]
[...] jag inte kan skada. Jag använde seitan som köttsubstitut, men det går ju att improvisera lite. Green Kitchen Stories gjorde till exempel en variant på rödbetor. Billigt (om man inte använder finvin), gott och helt [...]
[...] lifted this recipe from the lovely folk at Green Kitchen Stories. With a few Green & Leithy alterations it turned out just beautifully. Unctous, rich and heady- [...]
[...] I also made Beet Bourguinon from Green Kitchen Stories, last Thursday night. It was a huge hit with the carnivore love of my [...]
[...] Denne Beet Bourguignon er noget at det lækreste, jeg længe har smagt. Faktisk har jeg købt ind, så jeg kan lave den snart igen, for hold op, den er god – opskriften er herfra [...]
[...] . I’ve posted the recipe below if anybody is interested. Also if anyone is interested, the Beet Bourguignon recipe from Green Kitchen Stories is seriously yummy – well worth a [...]