Boeuf Bourguignon takes about four hours to make if you include cooking time.  I wanted to make it last Friday, but my workday ran long.  I could have waited until Saturday, but I wanted it immediately.  So I tried out a pressure cooker for the first time.

I skipped all sorts of steps critical to preparing the beef for stewing, but it came out nicely all the same.  I would not call that night’s dinner a true Boeuf Bourguignon.  That’s why I add the word “Shortcut” to the recipe’s title.

It all took 20 minutes to prep and one hour to cook in an Instant Pot.  The device required about 15 minutes to come to full pressure, so this recipe requires a little more than an hour and a half to execute.

Shortcut Boeuf Bourguignon

Ingredients:

2 pounds chuck roast, cubed for stew
3 potatoes, cut into cubes
2 carrots, sliced
8 white boiling onions (or 12 pearl onions)
1/4 pound string beans, trimmed and cut
1/4 pound button mushrooms or sliced mushrooms
3 slices of bacon, fried crisp
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon of dried rosemary
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper
1 bottle of red wine
1/2 cup beurre manié (equal parts soft butter and flour, well mixed)

Preparation:

Put all items except the beurre manié into the Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for one hour.

After cooking and releasing the pressure (be careful), remove all solid items from the pot to a large serving dish.

Transfer the liquid to a pot on the stovetop, bring it to a boil, and stir in portions of the beurre manié until the sauce is thickened.  Pour over the solid items in the serving dish.  Garnish with sprigs of parsley or chopped parsley.

Recommended wine: any hearty Burgundy (or even Bordeaux, as pictured).

This recipe serves four to six people.