Fall is for food...

Winter arrived thoroughly in Michigan this week.  We had four or so inches of snow on Monday, temperatures in the single digits Tuesday, and this weekend, the snow remains on the ground. All of this says it's time for some nice, slow-cooked comfort food.  That is exactly what happened - to much happiness.

Saturday was time for a beef a la carbonnade, or Belgian beef stew.  There seem to be as many recipes for this as there are people in Belgium, but the basics are all the same.  Some kind of tougher cut of beef cooked for a long time with a ridiculous amount of onion with some beer make up the backbone of this hearty dish. Serving it over noodles is de rigeur. For my version, it was a nice grass-fed piece of chuck roast, cut into 1.5 inch cubes, well seasoned and browned in oil.  I used three gigantic onions from one of my favorite growers at Farmers Market, along with a whole head of garlic and a couple immense shallots.  A slightly past prime brown ale served as the beer, and some chicken stock added body (I was out of beef stock).  The real secrets for my version, though, is the spicing - I add a liberal amount of thyme, 2 bay leaves, about 3 TB. of mustard, and finish with some balsamic vinegar.  Made for a tasty, if simple, dinner.

With a beer-based sauce, you would think beer would be "to drink" - but I prefer wine, so off to wine it was.  We had opened a Morgon a day or so earlier, so one o us finished that off, while I opened a 2011 St. Joseph from Louis Cheze as well.  The Morgon's brighter fruit and mineral notes were a better pairing than the more earthy, bloody St. Joseph, as it turns out.

Today was bean soup - made with some heirloom beans from a local producer, bacon ends to sub in for ham from another local producer.  Carrots, celery, onion, and garlic rounded out the soup, along with fresh made chicken stock I brewed up while cooked the carbonnade.  It was very "right" for the night - if not at all gourmet.  A small bowl of collard greens with some organic cider vinegar accompanied nicely.

All this was paired with a gorgeous and inexpensive Austrian Pinot Noir rose from Buchegger.  It's amazing how much cherry and strawberry fruit could combine with acid and a sharp edged mineral finish in a $12 bottle.  This is a great estate making honest, food-friendly wines that don't break the bank, and while they won't garner 95+ scores from the critics, are just incredibly well-made.  I understand the owner of this estate recently passed away, and I am sorry to hear the loss of such talent and do hope the estate is able to continue, and to continue producing such wonderful wine.