Andrea's Beef Bourguignon Dip | Mendo at Home

This is recipe number two in the Mendo at Home Series. Mendocino Farms is known as a "sandwich shop", so we were definitely excited to be taking on the first sandwich recipe for this collaboration. Our first "unofficial" foray with a Mendo-inspired sandwich recipe was the pork belly banh mi, which yielded some yummy results. Now armed with an official Chef Judy recipe, Andrea's Beef Bourguignon Dip, we were excited to put some meat to bread to see what may result. The Dip is a full-fledged beef bourguignon meal - in sandwich form. Boneless short ribs are slowly oven-braised in a sweet Marsala wine sauce for 3 hours and then piled high onto crisp ciabatta bread. Next comes layers of an oven-roasted mix of crimini and button mushrooms, parsnip-potato puree, balsamic-caramelized onions, sauteed kale and fresh arugula. The sandwich is then topped off with the remaining bread, after being submerged in the flavorful jus from the ribs. Our conclusion? The best iteration of beef bourguignon yet! In fact, one of our guests said "the sandwich is SO flavorful, you just want to wipe up all the sauce with the last bits of bread" before she promptly handed over her empty plate, no leftover sauce in sight.

As always, we look forward to any comments or questions. Thanks for reading!

Andrea's Beef Bourguignon Dip

adapted from Chef Judy Han

For the Braised Short Ribs
Ingredients

5 lbs boneless short ribs

1 yellow onion, peeled, rough chopped

1 carrot, peeled, rough chopped

1 stalk celery, rough chopped

2 each Roma tomatoes

6 cloves garlic, whole

1 sprig thyme

2 cups Marsala wine

4 cups chicken, beef or vegetable stock

Oil

Salt and pepper

Directions for the short ribs
Rinse short ribs and pat dry. Season heavily with salt and pepper (approximately 1 lb meat = 1 scant teaspoon salt). 

Heat a skillet on high heat. Add oil and sear the outside of the short ribs on all sides. Once seared, remove short ribs and set aside in a braising pot.

Add vegetables, including thyme, and saute in the same skillet, scrapping off any brown pieces left from the meat. Saute for about 10 minutes, until the onions start to caramelize and the vegetables begin to soften.

Add Marsala wine and simmer until half the wine evaporates, about 10 minutes.

Add 4 cups of stock (if you don’t have stock, water is OK). Bring to a boil. Add vegetables and liquid to the short ribs. Cover tightly.

Braise short ribs in a 325° oven for 3 – 3 ½ hours, until fork tender.

 

Remove short ribs and put in a container that can fit in the fridge. Pour braising liquid through a china cap or colander to remove all the vegetables. Let short ribs cool in the braising liquid overnight in order to remove all the fat. Reheat and serve.

For the Parsnip Puree

Ingredients

2 lbs parsnip, peeled and chopped

2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic

1-2 cups milk, cream, or half and half

1 tablespoon butter

Salt

Directions for the Parsnip Puree

Cut parsnips and potatoes into equal pieces. Bring parsnips, potatoes, and garlic to a boil in cold salted water and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain well and pass through a ricer, or mash until smooth. In the same pot bring milk to a boil, add parsnip mash and butter. Mash or whip until smooth. Adjust seasoning.

For the Roasted Mushrooms

½ lb button mushrooms

½ lb crimini mushrooms

2 tablespoons oil

Salt

Directions for the Roasted Mushrooms

Slice mushrooms and toss in oil and a touch of salt. Spread out evenly on a lined sheet tray. Roasted in 500° oven for ~7 minutes, or until mushrooms are cooked through and caramelized. Adjust seasoning.

For the Sauteed Greens

Ingredients

2 bunches kale

1 tablespoon garlic, chopped

1 tablespoon oil

Pinch salt

Directions for the Sauteed Greens

Clean kale by removing the leaves from the stems. Wash thoroughly and rough chop. The kale can be a little wet, because the water helps steam the kale during the cooking process. Heat oil in a saute pan and add kale. Then add garlic and a pinch of salt.

For the Caramelized Onions

Ingredients

2 onions

1 tablespoon vinegar, preferably balsamic or white balsamic, but apple cider vinegar or rice wine vinegar also work well

2 tablespoons oil

Pinch salt

Directions for the Caramelized Onions

Slice onions. Heat up pan with oil. Add onions to the pan, adding a pinch or two of salt, and cooking until caramelized, stirring often. This process should take about 15-20 minutes. Once the onions are nicely browned, deglaze the pan with the vinegar. Allow the vinegar to cook out, which takes a few minutes.

For the SANDWICH ASSEMBLY

Build the sandwich on any sturdy bread that can hold up, despite the wetness of the ingredient, like a ciabatta.

First, toast the bread and dip (the middle/porous side) in the warm short rib jus. Next, spread a layer of parsnip puree on the bottom of the bread and place a serving of short ribs on the parsnip puree. Layer in mushrooms, onions, and sauteed greens before putting the top back on the sandwich.

Serve with a side of creamy horseradish or pickled vegetable to balance the richness of the short ribs.

Cooking Notes

• Sauteed Greens - Kale is not a popular vegetable with many people, as it typically ends up on our plates as a garnish. It's tough consistency and bitter taste (when overcooked) makes it an unpopular choice for a sandwich. But with some proper treatment, this bitter green can become quite a nice addition. I've seen many blogs sing the praises of baked kale and decided to make some kale chips to serve with the bread, alongside the sauteed kale in the sandwich. The general consensus amongst the guests of our Mendo at Home tasting was that the kale was not necessary within the sandwich - the arugula provided enough heft on behalf of the green vegetables. If you'd still like to have kale with your sandwich, we'd recommend making kale chips instead and serve it separately. Just remove the leaves from the stem and tear into small pieces. Toss in oil and salt (add a bit of vinegar if you feel like salt and vinegar chips) and put them in a 350 degrees oven for ~15 minutes or until they are crispy. You may be surprised at how tasty these can be.

• Parsnip Puree - We modified the amount of parsnip puree (the original recipe called for 2 pounds each of the parsnip and potatoes) as there was ALOT leftover. We estimated that perhaps one large potato and one parsnip would have been enough. Everyone definitely enjoyed this component of the sandwich and agreed it added a welcomed sweetness that helped balanced out the flavors of the short ribs.

• Short ribs - We were lucky to get some beautifully marbled meat from our local Korean supermarket. If you would like to splurge a bit, we definitely recommend finding some good, fatty cuts of beef. However, since the recipe calls for a long braising period, the meat will still likely be very tender, even with a lower grade of beef. After 3 hours of braising ourselves, the meat was very tender, almost too much so; as it was falling apart quite easily. If you are stretched for time, you may get away with ~2 hours of braising. Also, keep in mind that when buying short ribs, you'll typically have a large bit of bone attached. So depending on how the ribs were butchered, a good percentage of the meat you purchase may be bones. So buying 5 lbs of short ribs may only yield 4 pounds of "usable" meat.

• Bread - We tried two different types of breads with the sandwich: ciabatta and a white sandwich roll. As it was a "dip" sandwich, we wanted to try a similar construction to the roast beef and pastrami dips that everyone knows and loves. The consensus was that the white bread soaked up too much jus and felt apart too easily while the ciabatta help the sandwich together nicely with an added crunch and texture from the crust. But it's a personal preference.