Light and savoury, the “Daube Provençale” is a beef stew recipe made with a white wine and Provençal herbs sauce. This fresh version of the classic French beef stew, usually prepared with red wine, is perfect for a summer dinner. The meat is marinated in the white wine and the herbs, then cooked over slow heat in a traditional terracotta pot called “Daubière” (or any big pot that you enclose with foil) for at least 3 hours and serve with potatoes or rice.
Last weekend I realize that I didn’t make any “Boeuf Bourguignon” (Burgundy Beef Stew) last winter, one of my favourite stew recipes. The weather is far too warm now for this kind of heavy dish made with a red wine sauce … so I took a look at my cooking books for a summer beef stew recipe and I decided to try the “Daube Provençale”.
What is a Daube Provençale?
All the French stew recipes (Boeuf Bourguinon, Daube, Boeuf carottes, boeuf mode, boeuf braisé, …) are usually based on the same model: red meat marinated in a wine marinade and steamed very slowly with some vegetables for 2 or 3 hours over very low heat. The Daube Provençale, a typical South of France recipe, adapts the recipe with Southern flavours and a lighter white wine based sauce.
Like most of the French stew recipes such as the blanquette de veau, the Provençal daube stew is very easy to make and does not require any cooking skills, only good ingredients and quite a lot of time.
How to make a perfect stew?
Be generous with the herbs and the seasoning in the marinade, and marinate the meat as long as possible in the fridge, but without exceeding 12 hours.
Choose the beef with a little bit of fat on it, it gives more taste to the sauce 🙂
The beef stew is always better when it is reheated so try to make it one day in advance if you can.
You can cook the potatoes in the same pot as the meat if it is big enough, just add them in the sauce 45 minutes before the end of the cooking time and you have your one-pot recipe.
Bon appétit!
French summer beef stew
Ingredients
- 2 US cups (5o0 ml) dry white wine
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
- 2 sage leaves
- 3-4 branches of thyme
- Salt, black pepper, ground coriander seeds…
- 2,2 lbs (1kg ) beef meat cut into medium cubes
- 1 onion
- 1,8 oz (150gr) smoked bacon
- 6 carrots
- 1 tsp concentrated tomato
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 vegetable or spice stock cube
- 3 US cups (750 ml) hot water
- Salt, black pepper, ground coriander seeds…
- 1kg medium size potatoes
Instructions
-
- Prepare the marinade 3 to 12 hours before starting cooking the stew.
- Mix all the ingredients of the marinade in a big glass or plastic bowl. Add the pieces of meat and mix well until covered with the marinade, place a cover or a cling film on the bowl and rest in the fridge for 3 to 12 hours.
-
- Slice the onion and cut the bacon into small pieces. *Slice the carrots and chop the garlic cloves *in another dish.
- Take the beef cubes out of the marinade (keep the marinade for later).
- Warm a big pot over medium heat and quickly fry the beef pieces until each side is brown. Once the meat is brown on every side, take it out of the pot and set aside. If there is any liquid remaining in the pot, increase the heat to make it evaporate. That way you keep the fragrance of the juice.
- Reduce heat to medium and fry the onion and the bacon in the pot for a couple of minutes, then incorporate the carrots, the concentrated tomato, the garlic cloves, the stock cube, the white wine marinade, the hot water and the beef cubes again.
- Cover the pot and steam over low heat for 3 hours.
- If you wish to cook the potatoes in the sauce, peel them, cut them in medium pieces and add them to the pot 45 minutes before the end of the cooking time.
French summer beef stew
Ingredients
Beef Marinade
- 2 US cups (5o0 ml) dry white wine
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
- 2 sage leaves
- 3-4 branches of thyme
- Salt, black pepper, ground coriander seeds...
Stew
- 2,2 lbs (1kg ) beef meat cut into medium cubes
- 1 onion
- 1,8 oz (150gr) smoked bacon
- 6 carrots
- 1 tsp concentrated tomato
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 vegetable or spice stock cube
- 3 US cups (750 ml) hot water
- Salt, black pepper, ground coriander seeds...
- 1kg medium size potatoes
Instructions
Marinade:
- Prepare the marinade 3 to 12 hours before starting cooking the stew.
- Mix all the ingredients of the marinade in a big glass or plastic bowl. Add the pieces of meat and mix well until covered with the marinade, place a cover or a cling film on the bowl and rest in the fridge for 3 to 12 hours.
Stew:
- Slice the onion and cut the bacon into small pieces. *Slice the carrots and chop the garlic cloves *in another dish.
- Take the beef cubes out of the marinade (keep the marinade for later).
- Warm a big pot over medium heat and quickly fry the beef pieces until each side is brown. Once the meat is brown on every side, take it out of the pot and set aside. If there is any liquid remaining in the pot, increase the heat to make it evaporate. That way you keep the fragrance of the juice.
- Reduce heat to medium and fry the onion and the bacon in the pot for a couple of minutes, then incorporate the carrots, the concentrated tomato, the garlic cloves, the stock cube, the white wine marinade, the hot water and the beef cubes again.
- Cover the pot and steam over low heat for 3 hours.
- If you wish to cook the potatoes in the sauce, peel them, cut them in medium pieces and add them to the pot 45 minutes before the end of the cooking time.
