Daube Provencal (Beef Stew in Wine and Olives)

Digesting a bad news

The thing that I hate the most on watching news is that most of the time its only about bad news. As if we do not have too much trouble to worry about. But then again the scenario turns into a different perspective, when the news you get are the ones coming from your loved one. How I despise bad news. Yesterday, I felt so devastated after learning about a heart-breaking news from the email I got. You know that I'm so far away from my family, and the Internet always makes me feel so close to home--sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes it's really bad.

The best thing to deal with problem is to be not too anxious about them! So to make me feel better, hubby had an excellent idea to bring us to to see the 40th celebration of Photography Festival in the historical city of Arles. It is one of the largest and the oldest in the region. Au rendezvous where numerous photo exhibits from the renowned photographers all over the world of all genre showcased all over the city. The guest of honor is Delpire the talented artistic editor of Nouvel Observateur. Of course it was forbidden to take photographs so I just took some snaps of this beautiful city.

(From top left to right clockwise; bull graffiti, the main plaza, the window of an eccentric house close to the Mayors office and the church of Arles.)

(From top left to right clockwise; signage of a yellow hotel, a serving of daube provencal, a door knob and a photographer's graffiti.)

And on times like this nothing beats a comforting dish of Beef Daube Provencal. It's a family recipe that hubby's Grandmother taught me. It's a typical provencale meat dish slowly cooked in wine and olives. I'm sending this off to Family Recipes an event of family well loved dishes hosted by the The Spiced Life.

Beef Daube Provencale

Ingredients:

1 kilo of boneless beef bottom round or chuck cut into bite size
half a kilo of beef short ribs or flanken
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of flour
1 teaspoon of melted butter
2 cloves of garlic chopped
2 big onions chopped
2 big tomatoes, peeled, seeds removed and chopped
one cup of green and black olives
one cup of white wine (or red wine)
one cup of beef broth
salt, pepper, bay leaf, fresh rosemary and thyme

Procedure:
Start by putting 1 tablespoon of olive oil on your meat, add some salt and pepper. Put the flour and toss it until the flour are evenly distributed. Heat the pan and put your melted butter and the rest of the olive oil. Fry briefly the beef to have that brownish golden color, add the garlic and onion. Continue stirring. Put the tomatoes, olives and deglaze it with the wine. Add the broth and cook it slowly on a crackpot. Add all the fresh herbes, salt and pepper.