Beef Bourguignon and Le Succes (sort of)

For our weekly Tuesday night Ladies’ Supper, I tried my hand at two new skills.  Beef stew and meringue.  One turned out well, the latter not too good.  This is odd because it's usually the opposite for me!  Dessert always turns out well!

There was a recipe for Beef Bourguignon in a recent issue of Everyday Food magazine so I thought I’d try my hand at beef stew.  This is a dish that I do not usually love, but my husband has been craving.  It turned out very tasty and was surprising simple to make.  The meat was SO tender and juicy.  We don’t eat much beef so this was definitely a treat. 

When I saw that this week’s recipe was for a meringue-based cake, I was a bit worried.  I’ve never made a meringue and I only have a hand-held mixer.  But, I figured I’d give it a try.

Foamy:









Soft Peaks:







Firm Peaks??:




After adding the almond/sugar mixture, the "batter" was completely deflated.  I'm not sure if I measured incorrectly, did not beat long enough or what my mistake was.  I tried to mix (I used a whisk) as minimally as possibly.  I also added the almond mixture in four batches.

I didn't want to make the Tea Ganache because I didn't think the cake was going to turn out correctly.  So, I just put some hot cream on top of a bag of chocolate chips and stirred.  The cake turned out sort of cookie-like.  I spread some ganache on top and we ate the "cake" layers like cookies.  They were okay.  Edible, for sure.  Better luck next time I try a meringue!