Beef Bourguignon – raging lardons

A lardon is a cube of bacon and is one of the three garnishes.

Lardons The butcher kindly went out the back and got a length of bacon and cut me off a 250gn piece of bacon this got cut up into cm sized cubes. They were then put in a small saucepan and covered with cold water. Brought to the boil and simmered for an extra minute then drained and rinsed. Sauteed until golden brown..

Mushrooms - 350gm of small button mushrooms - wiped and stalk trimmed; 1tbs butter; 1tbs oil. Cooked over a high heat for about 5 minutes until the moisture had gone the seasoned.

Onions These were a bit more work and I could have handled a shortcut. 20 small pickling onions-peeled; 1tbs butter; 1tbs of sugar. Put the onions butter and sugar in the frypan and just covered them with water, brought to boil, simmered covered for 8 minutes. Then took the lid off and let it bubble away until the liquid went and then sautéed in a little butter until golden.

All covered with foil and then waited for the two and a half hours to be up.

Meanwhile made some French Onion soup. Actually the first dinner party dish I ever made many years ago as a first year Uni student. Had it with Trout Almondine and some bought Creme Caramel. Had to introduce myself to the neighbour and ask to borrow a corkscrew. You can find your own recipe but worth making your own bouquet garni and you don't need stock - just water and white wine.