Double Take: Beef Stroganoff

Until last week, I'd never had homemade beef stroganoff. Growing up, my mom made the Hamburger Helper version and our family really enjoyed it. She always talked about making it without the boxed version but our family didn't eat mushrooms and it never happened. After leaving home for college, I learned I had a mushroom intolerence. Unless mushrooms are cooked for close to an hour, I can't eat them. This has in general caused me to be very mindful of mushrooms in dishes and in general, I avoid them. When I picked this recipe, Melanie asked if I was sure about the mushrooms. The recipe said they cooked over an hour so I convinced myself to try it. Then I hesistated. The week came to make them and I procrastinated. Mel suggested a delay due to being super busy and I was able to dally a bit more. Finally I made the recipe. I hoped for the best....and it was awesome. Since the mushrooms cooked so long, I didn't get sick either! Sorry to spoil part of my review but this is definitely a recipe to repeat.

To reduce the recipe down to a normal level, I halved it. I made a couple of other slight changes which are included below in italics.

Beef Stroganoff with steamed broccoli

Beef Stroganoff (adapted from the All New Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook)

Ingredients

3/4 lb sirloin beef tips or stew beef (chop into small bits)
1/4  teaspoon  salt
1/4  teaspoon  pepper
1 1/2  Tablespoons  vegetable oil
1  medium-size sweet onions, diced
1  (8-ounce) packages fresh mushrooms, sliced (I started with large slices but they will break apart in the cooking process so the size isn't terribly important.)
1  cups  beef broth
1  tablespoons  tomato paste
1/2  teaspoon  Dijon mustard
1  (8-ounce) package egg noodles (This is approximately 2 1/2 c. uncooked egg noodles.)
1/4  cup  sherry or red or white grape juice (I used red)
1  tablespoons  all-purpose flour
1  (4-ounce) container sour cream
1  tablespoons  chopped, fresh parsley (optional) (I skipped this)

How To:

Cut beef tips or stew beef into small bits. I cut it into bits around 1/2" cubes.

Sprinkle beef tips evenly with salt and pepper.

Brown beef in hot oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add onions and mushrooms, and saute, 3 to 5 minutes or until tender.

Stir broth, tomato paste, and mustard into beef mixture. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook 1 hour or until beef is tender.

Cook noodles according to package directions; drain. (In case you're like me and put pasta in a container without directions, boil water and add pasta. Cook the pasta for 8-10 minutes. Test with a fork for doneness.)

Combine sherry/grape juice and flour; stir into beef mixture, and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Stir in sour cream. Serve over hot egg noodles; sprinkle with parsley, if desired.

My Response

This was great. I think cutting up the beef made a big difference in terms of tenderness and flavor absorbed by the meat. The recipe states that the original serves 4 people. If serving 4, I'd make the recipe as listed above. It's a lot of food. I served it (in the halved version above) with steamed broccoli and had enough food to eat for 5 meals. I enjoyed it the whole time though. That's pretty amazing in terms of leftovers and personal enjoyment, especially since most anyone can get bored of leftovers by the 3rd or 4th time of eating them. This recipe would be hard to make any smaller though.

Be sure to hop over to Mel's blog to see what she thought of this dish!

Comments

  1. I'm so glad you liked it! AND got to enjoy the delicious mushrooms :)

    ReplyDelete

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