Wednesday

Beef Stroganoff

Image of Beef Stroganoff served in a white bowl over egg noodles
Here it is, late May, Memorial Day weekend is approaching,  and it's barely 50 degrees outside! It's too warm to start a pot of stew on the stove, but cool enough to want something that warms you from the inside out.

This recipe is a combination of one I saw years ago on America's Test Kitchen and some advice from my mother-in-law who was an old pro at feeding hungry, growing boys and how to make a small amount of steak go a long way.

It's slightly more time consuming than the old cream of mushroom soup stand-by but, once you try it, you'll never go back. The vegetables far outweigh the meat in this dish so, if you enjoy savory meals and want to cut down on the amount of red meat you eat, this is a great recipe to try.

The extras, like sherry and a bit of tomato sauce, make this a meal fit for company. Serve it in individual bowls, over fancy cut egg noodles and garnish it with snipped parsley. Of course it's also great served family style on a large platter over the noodles.  Add a salad and you're done!


Time: 1 hour
Level: Easy
Yield: Serves 4 (or maybe 2 hungry dudes)



Ingredients:

1 - 8 oz sirloin steak
2 tbsp olive oil or butter
1 large white onion chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
8 oz sliced crimini mushrooms
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 1/3 cup of beef broth
1/4 cup prepared tomato sauce (or 2 tsp tomato paste)
3/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup cream sherry
salt and pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 cup sour cream
1 package of egg noodles (12oz size) or follow the package serving size.


Directions:

Slice the steak into strips about 1/4 inch thick. Heat the oil (or butter) on medium high heat and add the steak. Cook until medium rare, remove from the pan quickly and set aside. Leave the juices in the pan, turn the heat down to medium low and add the onions and mushrooms. When the onions are soft and the mushrooms have released their liquid (about 6-8 minutes), add the garlic.
While those are cooking, mix together the broth, tomato sauce, Worcestershire and sherry in a small bowl. Add to the pan.


Image shows the three steps to sauteing Beef Stroganoff


Let it cook on medium-low until all the ingredients are very hot (not boiling). Make sure you have plenty of liquid (add more water 1/2 cup at a time if you think you will need more). Put the steak back into the pan, cover and simmer on low for 20 minutes.

Boil noodles according to the package.

While the noodles are cooking, add the sour cream to the pan and stir well. 
Tip: Remember that you want to keep the cream from breaking when you add it to the heated sauce. So, make sure that the heated ingredients are not boiling and, for extra insurance, put the sour cream in a glass measuring cup and spoon some of the hot sauce into the cup. Stir the hot mixture into the cold sour cream. This "tempers" the cream (lessens the difference in temperature of the cold and hot ingredients) so it's less likely to break.  

Keep the heat on low to heat all of the ingredientsJust before serving, add the parsley.

Drain the noodles and put them on a large platter leaving a well in the center. Spoon the stroganoff into the well and serve piping hot.

No comments:

Post a Comment