Pot-au-feu is a classic one pot meal, and this update on the traditional beef stew is brightened with Provençal vegetables and flavors.
It is typical of the culinary tradition of the South of France in its simplicity and focus on pure flavors.
This one pot wonder just keeps getting better after you make it. You can enjoy the pot-au-feu like a stew, spoon it over potatoes, or even use the meat for other dishes or sandwiches.
Tips: This dish doesn’t need to be heavy. Yes, bones and thicker cuts of meat help with flavor, but go easy on oil otherwise. Use a flavorful, but light and drinkable red wine to cook the beef.
To make a bouquet garni for this recipe consult the notes here.
Pot-au-feu
Author: Saffron & Honey
Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: French
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Pot-au-feu is a classic one pot meal, and this update on the traditional beef stew is brightened with Provençal vegetables and flavors.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds stewing beef
- ¾ lbs beef round (bone in)
- 2 white onions, diced
- 4 carrots, chopped
- 4 gloves garlic, chopped
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 1 turnip, quartered
- 2 small white potatoes, halved
- bouquet garni
- 6 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 7 fl oz red wine
- salt, pepper
- 1 teaspoon herbes de provence
- olive oil
Instructions
- Prepare all the vegetables first. In a large pan, sauté onions, carrots, and onions with a little bit of olive oil until fragrant. Add garlic and herbes de provence and cook a little longer.
- Transfer the vegetable mix to your large pot-au-feu pot.
- Cut the stewing beef into 1 inch cubes, season with salt and pepper. Brown the meat on medium-high heat. Add in red wine and tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes or so.
- Brown the beef round - keeping it whole.
- Once the meat is browned, add everything to the pot. Add bouquet garni, turnips, and potatoes. Add enough water to cover the meat and bring to boil. Taste for seasoning.
- Turn down the heat and gently simmer for 3 hours. Serve topped with fresh herbs.
More Provençal classics to come in this new series!
Beautiful. My mother used to make this, but she was from Northeastern France. It’s probably a pretty common “peasant” style dish using leftover meat and vegetables. I remember it being so satisfying. Yours is fantastic!
Very much so! Thank you, Mimi 🙂
I’m sure using beef that has a bone such as you used adds to the overall flavor of your pot-au-feu.
Thanks, Karen! Definitely.
This is such a beautiful dish and I haven’t made a pot-au-feu in ages. I love that you’ve lightened it up a bit given it extra flavor with the herbes de provence…my favorite blend.
That’s the idea! I want to go back to the classics, but the lighter version 😉 Thank you!