A simple story for a French boeuf aux carottes

beef stew boeuf carottes

Boeuf aux carottes — Beef stew with carrots

When I was a young girl growing up in France, Sundays were often the days when my mother cooked a boeuf aux carottes (beef stew with carrots) during the winter. She’d start cooking hers early in the morning, leaving it to simmer on the stove for a few hours. The aromas of onion, sauteed meat, wine and spices made the house smell like lazy mornings and Sundays and hachis parmentier. Oh yes! She’d always make sure to prepare a large pot of stew so that she could use what was left the next day, to prepare stuffed squashes or hachis parmentier.

stuffed squash beef

Winter squashes stuffed with brown rice and beef

That thought inspired these two recipes (check the boeuf aux carottes recipe here, and the winter squashes here), which I wrote for Sunday Supper, the new food column in the Boston Globe.

I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as we did. They’re lovely meal ideas of honest traditional French food.

What my mother knows how to make so well.

You might also like this recipe for hachis parmentier.
Posted in French Inspired, Gluten Free, Life and Us, Meat

36 comments

  1. Sounds so good! I have to admit, I haven’t been doing much inspired cooking these days – baking for so many people. I always like to hear, see what your doing in the kitchen. Thanks so much for the wonderful ideas.

  2. Mmmm, I love beef stew with carrots. Your recipe looks divine with the white wine a thyme. I have to give it a try! And it finally started to snow even here in London, so this is exactly the type of hearty meal for this weather.

  3. OH what a great idea for leftover stew! I love squash but I’ve never tried stuffing them. I MUST try very soon (today it’s cold and snowing in Toronto).

  4. I can’t begin to tell you how much I adore your blog. I find it incredibly inspiring and love that I am able to practice my french as well!
    xx

  5. If only I liked cooked veggies, I would have tried that… but alas no. Oh well, it’s still an amazingly simple idea but one had to think of it!

  6. What a wonderful two photographs. Like the way you have used the natural lights and stuffed squash also looks good!

    In the first photograph, love how you have composed the first photograph. Partial inclusion is a great way.

  7. mmm that looks gorgeous, my mother is irish and for us it has always been beef stew with lots of carrots and as a difference the meat is sauted with a very slight coat of flour to make the sauce dark and thik, i some times fry the onions, and instead of wine it was Guinness. But of the main ingredient our mothers love was the same.

  8. Boeuf aux Carottes is one of my favorite French Sunday meals. Love the use of leftovers in squash. Brilliant idea!

  9. New Orleans does not have the degree of cold weather that you and some of your readers are experiencing, but we have recently had a lot of dreary, rainy days with no sunshine. Today is one of those days. That beef stew recipe will be perfect! Looking forward to your cookbook!!

  10. very homely, esp that beef stew. perfect stuff for the cold weather.
    we don’t have squash here, so a capsicum/tomato might do the trick.

  11. Gorgeous pictures. I love stews! They are such an easy-to-make dish for cold winter days and taste fantastic.

  12. Bea, I don’t know how you do it, your pictures are always soooooooo perfect 10, I don’t eat beef but you had me at the first shot. 😉

  13. Sunday lunches are also my most favorite time of the week when I was young. My relatives would come over and we would have a great lunch! I miss those times.

  14. oh that squash looks divine. i have never stuffed squash with beef like this before, and i will be sure to give this technique a try. thanks for the inspiration! oh, im hungry now just thinking of it.

  15. Sundays for me mean family and food as well — it is very much indeed a tradition; a day of unwinding, sharing time with family over a warm, comforting meal.

  16. I made this delightful recipe a few days ago, and am finishing off the last of the stew right now. Absolutely delicious. I used beef shank, and included the bones. The marrow gave the broth a certain something. Thank you for your amazing recipes and gorgeous photos.

  17. Thank you everyone! Always love to read your notes.

    TummyIsADiva, so happy to hear. Thanks for the feedback!

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