Daube Provençale ( with white wine)

This white wine daube Provencale is an easy and tasty recipe that can be cooked in a one pot style.  If you like you can even use your slow cooker.  Short marinating times and no searing involved makes this recipe a breeze to cook.  Flavours of orange peel, tomato and bacon really blend to create a beautiful braised beef.  I personally recommend using chuck steak. 

INGREDIENTS  

• 1 kg of chuck beef or any beef suited for slow cooking 

For the Marinade 

• 1 shallot finely chopped 
• 100 grams bacon 
• Small handful chopped parsley 

• 2 garlic cloves crushed 
• 100 ml cognac (sorry, I said on the video 10 ml) 
• 200 ml white wine 
• 12 grams of fine salt 
• 6 grams of black pepper 

To cook the beef 

• Half an onion finely chopped 
• 1 carrot sliced 
• A bay leaf 
• A twig of fresh thyme 

• All of the marinade juice 
• 1 glass of brown stock (or an extra glass of wine if you want a real wine taste in your meat) 
• 1 tablespoon of olives 
• 1 garlic clove crushed 
• 1 orange or mandarin zest (the original uses dry bitter orange peels) 

• 3 chopped tomatoes (peeled and seeded) 
• Olive oil 
• Some chopped mushrooms (optional) 

Cook covered in the oven at 180C (356F) for 3 hours or until the meat is fully cooked. 

Serve the daube with macaroni for the real thing but I like tagliatelle better. 

INSTRUCTIONS 

• Blend parsley and pureed garlic in a dish or pan.  Cover 3 bacon slices on one side with the mix and roll each slice up. 
• Cut steak into chunky pieces and layer into a bowl.  On the first layer sprinkle fresh thyme, place one bay leaf and the 3 bacon rolls and then place the second layer of steak on top of that. 

• Sprinkle a good layer of salt and pepper together with the shallot. 
• Pour the cognac and white wine over together with a little olive oil and mix the liquids into the top layer of steak. 
• Cover and place in the refrigerator for one to two hours to allow to marinate. 
• Place the meat into a pot or dutch oven, putting the top layer of the marinade in first.  On top of that layer, place the bacon rolls, bay leaf and thyme, the orange peel, the onions, the crushed garlic, the thinly sliced carrots, the tomatoes, the olives and if desired, some chopped mushrooms. 
• Cover with the second layer of steak and pour over a glass of the marinade and the stock. 

• Cover the pot and place into the pre-heated oven (180C, 356F) for non fan and 160 -170 (320 -338 F) for fan oven and cook for 2.30 – 3 hours – until the meat is ready.  During cooking, check from time to time to see if the meat may need turning around – the liquids will reduce during the cooking.   
• When the dish is ready, remove from the oven and take off as much fat as possible. 
• I prefer then to leave the dish overnight and reheat the next day when it is to be eaten – the flavour is markedly improved. 
• Serve over a bed of hot pasta. 

Daube Provencale video recipe:

Stephane