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Boeuf a la CatalaneBeef Stew with Rice, Onions, and Tomatoes
August 20, 2020 | Updated March 3, 2023 | Laura
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✽ Recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I | Julia Child ✽
Julia Child Recipe 137 | 391 recipes to go!
✽ Beef Stew with Rice, Onions, and Tomatoes [Boeuf à la Catalane], p. 321
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✽ Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I was written by Julia Child who co-authored with Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961.
✽ You can buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I which contains these recipes here. (affiliate link)
The purpose of this Julia Child section of my blog is to document my journey of learning how to cook. To show my successes, my failures, and what I learned along the way.
Since I didn't create these recipes (if only!), I do not post exact amounts of ingredients or word-for-word instructions. If any of these recipes spark your interest, I highly recommend you buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (affiliate link). It's a great investment and learning tool and contains hundreds of classic recipes.
What you will find on my blog is:
✽ Butter Count & Cost Total
✽ Recipe Rating
✽ Answers to Questions about Recipe
✽ Fun Facts about Recipe or an Ingredient Used
✽ The Recipe Process
✽ Step-by-Step and Final Photos of Recipe
I hope that you enjoy reading my thoughts, learn something new, and leave inspired to try a new recipe. Bon appétit!
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Butter Count & Cost: Beef Stew with Rice, Onions, and Tomatoes
✽ Butter Count: +0 TB
✽ Cost: $29.10 [~$4.85 per serving]
Check out the total Julia Child butter count & cost here!
→ Looking for a different Julia Child recipe? Here's a list of all of the completed and pending Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipes!
This recipe surprised me in the best way possible.
I really wasn’t expecting much from this dish. Beef, rice, onions, and tomatoes? Sure, it sounds good, but I didn’t really sound like a recipe I would remember. Boy, was I wrong.
Julia Child's Boeuf a la Catalane: Rating
✽ Rating: 9
This recipe gets a 9 from me. I loved this dish. I was even so excited to eat the leftovers the next day!
The rice soaks up all the braising juices so nicely. The onions and tomatoes were so yummy, and we all know Julia’s braised beef is always good.
There was one step in this recipe that made me choose such a high rating. THE CHEESE. If you know me, you know that I put cheese in almost everything I make. When I was little, I had a cheese named after me. Not really, but my parents did refer to my cheese in the fridge as ‘Laura Cheese.’ Okay, so maybe nobody else in the world knows what Laura Cheese is, but in our household it was very well known.
Julia calls for an entire cup of Swiss to be stirred in at the very end. Bring it on! This makes the dish cheesy, stringy, and delicious.
Beef Stew: Questions
✽ What should I serve this beef stew with?
The cookbook recommends serving the stew with salad, French bread, and a strong red wine.
✽ What cut of beef should I use for this recipe?
The recipe calls for lean stewing beef. The first choice for stewing beef would be rump pot roast, but you can also use chuck pot roast (what I used), sirloin tip, top round, or bottom round.
✽ What does Catalane mean?
'Boeuf a la Catalane' translates to 'Catalan Beef'. It is a dish from the Spanish-Mediterranean corner of France.
Catalonia is a community in Spain that is divided into four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. So, Catalan is relating to Catalonia, its people, or its language.
✽ What are lardons?
This recipe instructs to cut the bacon into lardons. Lardons are just pieces of bacon that have been cut into matchsticks (1 1/2 inch strips, 3/8 of an inch thick).
Looking for more Julia Child beef recipes to read about?
→ Check out all of the meat recipes that I've completed so far!
Fun Facts about White Rice
*Find these facts plus lots more on Food & Wine.*
✽ What is white rice?
White rice is simply just brown rice that had been rid of its outer bran layer.
✽ How much rice is eaten in America each year?
Each American averages about 26 pounds of rice each year. This is way lower than almost everybody else in the world. Asians eat 300 pounds of rice per person each year, and 450 pounds of rice per person in the United Arab Emirates each year. On the other hand, the French each only 10 pounds of rice person each year!
✽ Where is rice grown?
Rice is grown on every continent except Antarctica.
How to Make Beef Stew with Rice, Onions, and Tomatoes
✽ Step 1: Simmer & Brown Bacon
Overall, this recipe was simple to make. First off, we will be blanching our bacon again and cooking it in oil. Once browned lightly, the bacon is removed from the pot into the casserole.
✽ Step 2: Brown Beef
The cut stewing beef is then browned and added to the casserole.
✽ Step 3: Brown Onions
Now the onions are browned and also removed to the casserole.
✽ Step 4: Heat Rice
Still working with the same fat, a cup of raw white rice is added in and cooked for a couple minutes. It is set aside for later.
✽ Step 5: Deglaze with Wine
We’ll remove any remaining fat and stir in a cup of dry white vermouth in order to scrape up all that flavor that was left behind.
✽ Step 6: Add Liquids to Casserole & Put in Oven
The vermouth and some beef stock are added to the casserole along with garlic, seasonings, saffron, and a bay leaf. It’s now ready for the first bake! It should cook for about an hour.
✽ Step 7: Add in Tomatoes & Continue Cooking
After an hour passes, it’s time for the tomatoes which have been peeled, seeded, juiced, and chopped! They are stirred into the casserole, and everything is put back into the oven for about an hour until the beef is tender.
✽ Step 8: Add in Rice & Continue Cooking
Now, rice! Pour it all in, bring to a simmer on the stove, cover, and put back into the oven for about 20 minutes.
The rice will cook and puff up soaking up all those juices. Make sure there is enough liquid in your pot to allow this to happen.
*This blog, Laura The Gastronaut, and this post were/are not endorsed or supported by Julia Child or The Julia Child Foundation.
%20recipe%20from%20Mastering%20the%20Art%20of%20French%20Cooking%20is%20so%20delicious%20and%20pretty%20simple%20to%20make!%20The%20stew%20consists%20of%20bacon%2C%20browned%20beef%2C%20onions%2C%20white%20rice%2C%20white%20wine%2C%20tomatoes%2C%20and%20Swiss%20cheese.%20This%20stew%20is%20hearty%20and%20you%20don't%20really%20need%20anything%20else%20to%20go%20with%20it-%20though%20French%20bread%20and%20a%20glass%20of%20red%20wine%20pairs%20wonderfully.%20Read%20more%20about%20this%20Julia%20Child%20recipe%20(and%20a%20lot%20of%20other%20Julia%20Child%20recipes)%20on%20my%20blog!){kind=small}
Category: Julia Child, Meat Cuisine: French
Keywords: julia child beef stew recipe, boeuf a la catalane recipe, beef stew with rice, boeuf catalane, catalan beef stew, stew beef and rice
✽ Did you make this recipe too?
→ Let me know by leaving a comment below and sharing on Instagram. Tag @laurathegastronaut and hashtag it #laurathegastronaut.
More Beef Recipes:
✽ Braised Stuffed Beef Rolls (delicious beef rolls stuffed with a ground pork and seasonings)
✽ Boeuf Bourguignon (there's a reason why this one is a classic- so good)
✽ Minced Braised Beef Served in a Beef Shell (one of my favorite recipes from the meat chapter)
→ Check out all of the completed Julia Child meat recipes!
✽ You can find this recipe and all the other Julia Child recipes I make in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I (affiliate link).
Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I was written by Julia Child who co-authored with Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961.
✽ Check out my Julia Child Recipe Checklist to see a list of all my completed and pending recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking!
Bon appétit!
August 21, 2020 by Laura Ehlers
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