Beef Braised with Red Wine and Chocolate Mousse

The boyfriend loves beef. He also has a bit of a sweet tooth. So I came up with this menu for Valentine's Day dinner. This was my first time trying these recipes and they both came out great! The meat had so much flavor from the red wine and the chocolate mousse was nice and fluffy. I came across the beef recipe while watching Everyday Food on PBS and the chocolate mousse recipe is from allrecipes.com. Let's start with the main course (this recipe serves 2).

Ingredients:

1/8 cup olive oil
4 oz button mushrooms

2-3 strips of bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1.5 lb boneless beef rump roast

coarse salt and ground pepper

1 clove garlic, smashed

1/2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp flour

1 1/2 cups red wine

1 cup chicken broth

1 bay leaf

2 carrots, sliced

5 oz pearl onions

1 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a 5 quart dutch oven with a tight fitting lid heat 2 tbsp olive oil over med-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook until browned. Transfer the mushrooms to a bowl or plate and set aside. Season beef generously with salt and pepper. Add 1 tbsp olive oil to pot and brown meat in batches. Doing the meat in batches prevents the pot from being crowded. Crowding the pot with meat would start to steam the meat and at this point the object is to just brown the outside. The inside will cook during braising. Pour off all but 1 tbsp oil and cook bacon. Add tomato paste and cook for 30 seconds. Add flour and cook for another 30 seconds. Add wine, broth, bay leaf, garlic and meat. 

Bring to a boil, cover and transfer to the oven. Cook for 1 1/2 hours. Remove from oven add carrots and onions. Return to the oven for 2 1/2 hours, until meat is tender. 15 minutes before the end of cooking, add the mushrooms. Remove from oven and stir in 1 tbsp of butter. 

This dish was so delicious! The alcohol in the wine cooked off and left all of its flavor behind in the meat. Also, the cut of meat that I got had some nice (small) grains of fat through it which is good for slow cooking because it will literally melt as the meat cooks and add flavor. The carrots and onions were nice and tender and the mushrooms added at the end soaked up the remaining juices and flavors. The boyfriend loved it as well... success!

On to the Chocolate Mousse! This recipe made 6 servings. I put two into some pretty martini glasses for our dinner and then put the rest in some ramekin dishes for later.

Ingredients:

5 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

5 egg yolks, beaten

1 tbsp sugar

a pinch of salt

5 egg whites

3/4 cup heavy cream

I've seen tv chefs chop chocolate with a knife. I've tried it and it's not so easy and kind of makes a mess. So I learned this neat little trick of putting the chocolate into a plastic bag and then giving it a good whack with a meat tenderizer. It works pretty well!

The next step of melting the chocolate can also be a tricky one. The best way to do it would be in a double boiler. Another way is to place a metal or (heat-safe glass) bowl on top of a pot of about an inch of boiling water. A third way would be to just heat the chocolate in a pot directly on the stove, however there is a risk of burning the chocolate when doing it that way. I have two pots that fit together fairly nicely to make a faux-double boiler...

No matter which method you choose, melt the chocolate until smooth and set aside to cool slightly. In a separate bowl whip the heavy cream to medium-stiff peaks. Peaks can be tricky to judge because it really depends on the cook, but a good rule to follow is that soft peaks will fall over, medium peaks will slightly curl over and stiff peaks will hold. You will want to use a mixer for this. It can be done by hand, but it will take much longer and leave you will a sore arm... I've tried it! In another bowl whip the egg whites with the salt until soft peaks form. Sprinkle in the sugar and continue whipping until medium-stiff peaks form. Then fold the egg yolks into the whipped egg whites. Fold the melted chocolate into this mixture. Lastly, fold in the whipped heavy cream until evenly blended. Spoon into dessert cups and chill in the refrigerator until firm, about 1 hour. 

With the dinner I paired the wine that I used to braise the beef. Some people will use "cooking wines", but I'm a big believer that you should cook with what you like to drink because that's the flavor that you like to taste. I found this wine at Trader Joe's.

I'd make this meal again in a heartbeat. It's easy and although the meat takes 3 hours to braise if gives you time to make the chocolate mousse and tidy up the place before your sweetie gets home for their Valentine's Day dinner.