boeuf bourguignon, revisited

You may remember that a little while ago, I made a pretty delicious boeuf bourguignon. As I was trying to decide what to make for supper a few nights ago, I had an idea. I would make this dish... with a twist.

This time, instead of using red meat, I used white meat. I used veal. Once again, I rolled it in the flour, fried it, and placed it in the ceramic pot, barely covering it with water. Instead of frying onions, though, with this meat, I added thinly cut mushrooms- the kind that are preserved in tins. It gave the dish a whole new taste. Really a new flavor. I continued the recipe, but instead of red whine, I added white wine, quite graciously, and left out the tomato sauce I often add.

Now this dish was a whole new, different feeling. I served it with slightly spiced mashed potatoes. Personally, I like the red meat better with rice or quinoa, and white with mashed potatoes... but I think they all fit pretty well. Veal would probably go with something a bit sweeter, maybe a fruit dish, while red would fit nicely with something more bland...

I love that about cooking- you can take an old recipe- that may have been really good!- and transform it into a whole new entity of its own! You can just switch a few small details, or some major ingredients, but either way, you get to play around with the recipe at hand. And that's part of what cooking's all about!

Enjoy!