Meglet Rambles On

Beef Stroganoff is one of those things that always sounds good, but I’ve never actually liked in practice, because there are too many variations that include things I REALLY don’t like (specifically, mushrooms and/or cream of mushroom soup) and it always seemed too difficult to make on my own. But I ran across an interesting recipe in a cookbook the other day, and decided to try it. Of course, being the picky eater that I am, I couldn’t just use the recipe as it was. But I used most of it, removed a few things, substituted a few things from another recipe, and it turns out that it’s really not that hard to make a good beef stroganoff.

So if you’re looking for a simple and relatively quick stroganoff, here you go:

Ingredients

• 1 ½-2 lbs fillet of beef in 3×1” strips
• 4 TBSP oil
• 10 TBSP butter
• Salt and pepper
• 16 oz sour cream (I like Tillamook Fat Free Sour Cream)
• 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• mushrooms if you like them

Method

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt generously, and cook the noodles until tender but not mushy. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Toss with butter and season with pepper to taste.
• In an 11-12” skillet, heat 4 tablespoons butter and, just as the foaming begins to subside, add the onion and garlic (and mushrooms if you’re using them) and cook, stirring, until the onions are lightly caramelized, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Whisk in the sour cream and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Preheat a 12” skillet over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Raise the heat to high and heat 4 TBSP oil and 4 TBSP butter. Season the beef with salt and pepper, then sauté, in multiple batches if necessary. Remove and drain the beef when done, then add it to the sauce. Keep the oil and sauté the remainder of the beef if necessary. Discard any excess oil.
• Reheat the sauce and beef over medium heat until just hot. (Do not boil.) Divide the noodles among 4 plates and top with the stroganoff. Serve immediately