Beer Braised Beef in a Marsala Mushroom Cream Sauce

I've been really into Pinterest for a while now keeping track of design things I like, house decorating ideas, and just as a source for inspiration, but only recently did I start seeing a lot of food & great-looking recipes. I have since made a YUM folder on there, and my list of things to make someday gets longer.

So last week I saw this picture of Beer-braised beef with the marsala mushroom cream sauce and knew I had to make it right away!

The original recipe is here. It's a little involved, not exactly a week-night dinner, unless you have more time than me, but I made this last Sunday and it made the house smell delicious!!!

I followed this recipe pretty closely (for a change), and made the following:

Beer Braised Beef (recipe below)
Mashed Potatoes - original used buttermilk, I just made regular
Marsala Mushroom Cream Sauce (recipe below)

Beef Braised Beef

Ingredients:

1 (2-1/2 pound) boneless beef chuck roast

Kosher salt and ground pepper

1/2 cup all-purpose flour (I used Better Batter gluten free all purpose flour)

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 medium yellow onions, halved and sliced thinly

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 (12-ounces) bottles lager beer, I used Redbridge

3 beef bouillon cubes

3 sprigs fresh thyme

1 6-inch sprig rosemary ( I think this was supposed to go in the beef mix in the oven, but it didn't say to, so I forgot, I ended up just using it as a garnish on top)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Cut the beef in large 2 or 3-inch chunks. Season the beef generously with salt and pepper. Place the beef in a ziplock bag and add the flour. Seal the bag and shake the beef until each piece is dredged and coated in flour. Add three tablespoons vegetable oil to a large heavy duty pot and heat over medium-high heat. Brown the beef on all sides, and then transfer to a plate. Add the remaining tablespoon of vegetable oil to the pot and add the onions. Cook the onions for 20 minutes until they are soft and slightly caramelized. Stir in the balsamic vinegar, beer, and bouillon cubes. Bring the mixture to boil, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom. Add the beef and the juices from the plate back to the pot and give everything a good stir. Cover the pot with a lid and place it in the oven for 2-1/2 hours.

Marsala Mushroom Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

8 ounces sliced crimini mushrooms (actually I used more crimini than white)

8 ounces sliced white button mushroom

3/4 cup Marsala wine

1/2 cup Heavy Cream

3 sprigs fresh thyme

salt and pepper

Directions:

In a large skillet, heat the butter and oil over medium-high heat. Once the butter is melted, add the mushrooms. Sauté the mushrooms for 3-4 minutes until the mushrooms are barely cooked through. Add the Marsala wine and cook for 5 minutes allowing the wine to slightly reduce. Stir in the heavy cream and thyme. Reduce the heat to medium and cook the mushroom sauce for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Here's all of it coming together:

Finished, plated meal shown at very top. I was very fancy and added the rosemary as a garnish. Mainly because - the recipe called for rosemary and then it was never included in the recipe, weird right? So I figured I'd put it on top, and the aroma of the rosemary before eating this was a nice added bonus.

The beef was so tender and flavorful! It was a soupier mixture than I thought it would be -- but I used a slotted spoon to arrange the plate --- and when we saved leftovers we got rid of most of the liquid.

MAKE THIS MEAL.