Friday, November 30, 2012

FFwD - Cheekless Beef Daube with Carrots and Macaroni

No beef cheeks.  No Le Creuset.  This week's French Friday was chuck roast in a crock pot!  But oh what Dorie can do with chuck roast.  And now I can do it too!!!

Beef Daube with Macaroni

I would love to try this with beef cheeks sometime but not even our butcher shop can get them.    Chuck roast makes a delicious substitute though and this was probably the best pot roast I've ever made.

Since I'm not feeling well (head cold, ugh!) I decided after browning the meat to use the crock pot and it worked out perfectly.  My husband gave it two thumbs up, then added two toes:)  AJ tried it out and also gave his approval...and wanted more:)
AJ asking for another bite!
The secret ingredient, bittersweet chocolate, added depth and just a touch of sweetness.  Or maybe the sweetness came from the wine.  Or a little of both.  I had a zinfandel and a cabernet on hand and decided the cab might be too heavy.  The zin was a tad sweet which is odd because it was also dry but worked out well and was delicious served with the daube.

This was one of the best French Friday recipes so far and will definitely be made again at my house!

A couple of weeks ago we made Goat Cheese Mini Puffs but I didn't blog them.  I just didn't love them and for me they weren't worth the effort.  Maybe for a party they would be nice just because they are different but I'd rather have the goat cheese spread on a crunchy cracker.


Goat Cheese Mini Puffs 

Oh yeah, I've made my olives from last week but we haven't tried them yet!  I'll let you know.
Herbed Olives



Check out all the French Friday results!  Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!


14 comments:

  1. Guyla, your Beef Daube looks and sounds delicious - if you ever do get a chance to try out this recipe with beef cheeks, do it by all means...but it is nice that Dorie´s recipe worked out so well with different cuts ot meat. Your Goat Cheese Mini Puffs look nice (even if you did not quite enjoy them so much) and the nice jar with the assortment of Mediterranean Marinated Olives looks lovely - I am sure that you will enjoy the olives!
    Have a good weekend and get better soon!

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  2. Guyla, Love your dog...my dog used to look just like that…even the coloring is similar...shih tzu?
    Gorgeous looking Daube…I looked all over for the beef cheeks…to no avail!! I used chuck roast, too! It sure was delicious! Nice job on the mini puffs and the marinated olives….I really enjoyed all our recipes this month!

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  3. My goodness, you're catching up with the whole month this week. I loved the olives so I hope yours turn out. In fact, we went to a Tapas place for dinner tonight and I felt ever so slightly superior because my olives were better than theirs.

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  4. LOL, I'm waiting on the olives to cure as well :) This was certainly a great one and I'm a tad jealous that I didnt think to put it in the crockpot first... LOL!!

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  5. Awww - it it was AJ approved, it must have been good :-)
    The crock pot was a great idea.
    Hope you are feeling better.

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  6. Did anyone find beef cheeks? I agree one of most yummy dishes yet and a perfect time of year for it. (I gave our dog a little bit of the stew, but I think the wine knocked her out...she feel asleep for quite a while.)

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  7. AJ's really cute! So, after you browned the beef, you just put everything into the crock pot? How long did you cook it? That sounds super easy (not that the recipe was hard to begin with). As for the goat cheese puffs, the filling makes a great spread. I've been having the leftover spread on toast for two weeks. Delicious! Hope you have a great weekend, Guyla!

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  8. Great job with all the recipes! I hope you feel better soon. I think the crock pot was a great idea!

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  9. I was thinking that the chocolate actually took down the sweet notes a bit. A real fantastic affect that makes this so unique will still keeping it essentially...well...stew. Great job! Feel better!

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  10. This looks like the ultimate comfort food! It has been raining cats and dogs here and this would be perfect for a stormy day. Goat cheese (my favorite)puffs sound so good - too bad they were not as good as they sound. Aj is adorable!

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  11. No beef cheeks either for me but the chuck cut was really good and did a perfect job becoming tender and moist after 3 hours in the oven!!!

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  12. Sorry about the lingering cold, Guyla. The weather is crazy these days and that's not very condusive to great health. I'm glad this daube worked for you all, including AJ (what do those letters stand for?) who is darling. Michael and I always had Goldens and I miss having my own dog now. Maybe when things get settled. I wasn't crazy about the mini-puffs but definitely liked the olives. Don't now if I'll ever make them again but glad that I made them once. Get better.

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  13. I wonder if anyone could find beef cheeks! Your hubby is cute...I think I give it a couple toes up, too! Feel better soon~

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