Courtesy Daniel Boulud
Serves: 8
4 pounds (lbs) flatiron steak, or other cut beef chuck
2 oranges
6 cups dry red wine
¼ cup cognac or brandy
2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
bouquet garni (4 sprigs fresh flat-parsley, 1 sprig fresh thyme, 1 sprig fresh rosemary, and 1 bay leaf tied with kitchen string)
6 stalks celery, trimmed and cut on bias into ½-inch-thick slices
4 large carrots, peeled, trimmed, and on the bias into ½-inch-thick slices
2 large onions, peeled and cut into inch-thick slices or wedges
2 cups beef stock, low sodium canned beef broth, or water
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter
coarse sea salt or kosher salt
1 ½ teaspoons crushed black pepper
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Preparation
The day before:
Place beef into a nonreactive bowl or Pyrex dish. Remove the zest of 1 orange using a vegetable peeler, including as little of the white pith as possible, and julienne. Juice both oranges and strain the juice. In a large bowl, combine the orange juice and zest, red wine, cognac, garlic, and bouquet garni. Pour the marinade over the beef, add the celery, carrots, and onions, cover, and marinate for at least 12 hours, or overnight, in the refrigerator.
Place a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F.
Transfer the beef to a platter. Strain the marinade through a colander into a medium saucepan and reserve the vegetables and herbs. Pour the beef stock into the pan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and keep at a slow, steady simmer.
Warm the vegetable oil and butter in a large cast-iron pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Pat the beef dry and season all over with salt and the pepper. Dust the beef with the flour on all sides. When the oil is hot, add the beef to the pot and sear until golden brown on all sides, 12 to 15 minutes. Pour in the hot stock mixture and add the reserved vegetables and bouquet garni.
Cover the pot and transfer it to the oven. Braise, basting and turning the beef every 30 minutes, until the meat is fork-tender, 3 to 3 ½ hours. Discard the bouquet garni. If the sauce is too thin or is not flavored intensely enough, ladle most of it off into another pot and simmer it until it thickens and intensifies. Then add it back to the original pot and serve.
Vegetables and Sauce Forestiere
8 1-inch batons bunch carrot
8 cippolini onions
4 large red radishes, halved
8 baby turnips
3 tbsp olive oil
6 trumpet royale mushrooms, quartered lengthwise
3 tbsp chopped shallots
⅓ cup madeira
1 cup sauce from the braised paleron
4 tbsp heavy cream
4 tbsp chopped fines herbes
Preparation
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and set a bowl of ice water on the side. Boil vegetables in separate batches until tender, chill in the ice water. Pat dry and set aside.
In a 12-inch sauté pan, heat olive oil over high heat until it starts to smoke. Add the mushrooms and sauté until golden brown. Reduce heat to medium; add the butter and shallots and cook, stirring until shallots are tender. Add the madeira and flambée.
Simmer until almost dry, then stir in the sauce and heavy cream. Bring to a simmer, and add the boiled vegetables. Stir to heat through and serve with the Paleron.