Sunday, May 22, 2011

Beef Stroganoff

Despite the fact that I have been working
out in the garden and the temperatures
have once again risen into the 80's,
I had a hankering for beef stroganoff.

But what recipe to use?

Isn't that always the question?

Of course I couldn't find just one recipe,
so I mashed two recipes together,
and even then I ended up tweaking this and that.



The first recipe calls for:
2 slices bacon, diced
1 pound stew beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1-1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
paprika


Mashing in the second recipe,
I added about a cup of sliced porcini mushrooms
and 1 cup beef stock.

The first step was to cook the bacon until browned.
Remove to a paper towel.



I browned the meat in the bacon drippings
and added a bit of flour
so that the stroganoff would thicken later.


After adding the chopped porcini mushrooms,
and allowing them to saute for a bit,
I added the diced onion and minced garlic.
Saute for another minute before adding
the bacon, salt, pepper, oregano, wine and beef stock.

Bring to a boil before turning down the heat
and covering the pan.
Simmer for 1-1/2 hours or until the meat is tender.


At this point the sour cream was added.
I decided that the sauce was too thin.
I made a slurry of corn starch and cold water
and added that to the sauce.
I then brought that back to a boil so that the cornstarch
could thicken the sauce.

Meanwhile,
I prepared a package of egg noodles
according to the package directions
and then tossed that with 3 tablespoons unsalted butter,
1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.



Serve the beef stroganoff over the noodles and top
with the chopped parsley and about 1/4 teaspoon paprika.

The family liked this,
although my husband would have liked more sauce
and the Foodie Daughter thought it needed
three slices of bacon.

The next time I will add 2 cups of beef stock
and another slice of bacon
to the recipe.



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