Beef Stroganoff

LESLIE: Beef stroganoff -- such a grown-up dish, you know? Easy to make, as it turns out. This recipe comes from the Williams-Sonoma Soup and Stew cookbook, which I know is a favorite of Daryl’s, too. I love all the W-S cookbooks. They’re well-written and beautifully photographed, they lay flat or slip neatly into my cookbook stand, and most importantly, the recipes are all reliable and delicious. I’ve adapted it slightly.

I read a wise-crack recently to the effect that pasta makes a dish Italian, shallots make it French, and sour cream makes it Russian – et voila! You’re an international cook. Glad to hear it’s so easy!

This version calls for top sirloin, not cooked long. It’s delicious, of course, but Mr. Right and I think next time we’ll go for a longer, slower cook, maybe using chuck, browning it in the pan as here, then tossing it in the slow cooker with stock for a few hours. When it’s done, deglaze the pan with some red wine to get all the tasty bits left behind, and finish the dish as written. If you try that method before we do, let us know how it goes!

A word on the mushrooms: We’re fans so this many ‘shrooms worked for us, but if you’re less rabid about them, cut the amount to 10-12 ounces, or mix cremini and white button.

And if you’ve ever seen Julia Child videos, say it along with me: “Don’t crowwwd the pannnn!”

Beef Stroganoff

3 tablespoons olive oil
1-1/2 pound top sirloin, cut into thin strips about 1inch wide and 2 inches long
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 leeks, white and light green portions only, cleaned and finely chopped
1 pound cremini mushrooms, washed and sliced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2-1/4 cups beef stock
1/3 cup crème fraîche or sour cream
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley for garnish

Wide egg noodles

Start the water for the noodles. In a large frying pan over high heat, warm 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Pat the beef dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Add half of the beef strips (do not overcrowd the pan) and sauté until nicely browned but still a little pinkish on both sides, about 1 minute per side. Transfer to a bowl. Repeat with 1 more tablespoon of the oil and the remaining meat.

In the same pan over medium heat, melt the butter with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Add the leeks and sauté until softened and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and sauté until nicely browned, about 5 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper.

Time to cook the egg noodles will vary based on brand, width, and density; this is probably the time to start them. When done, drain.

Stir in the tomato paste and cook until blended in, about 1 minute. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir to incorporate. Increase the heat to high, add the stock and bring to a boil, stirring with a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits from the pan bottom. Boil for 1 minute, then reduce the heat to medium. Add the sour cream, mustard, and lemon juice and cook for 1 minute more to allow the flavors to blend. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Return the meat and any accumulated juices to the pan and cook just until the beef is heated through, about 2 minutes. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately, over egg noodles.

Serves 6.

"A treat for the senses." --- librarian and reviewer Lesa Holstine, on the Spice Shop Mysteries

From the cover of CHAI ANOTHER DAY, Spice Shop Mystery #4 (Seventh St. Books, June 2019): 

 Seattle Spice Shop owner Pepper Reece probes murder while juggling a troubled employee, her mother's house hunt, and a fisherman who's set his hook for her.

As owner of the Spice Shop in Seattle's famed Pike Place Market, Pepper Reece is always on the go. Between conjuring up new spice blends and serving iced spice tea to customers looking to beat the summer heat, she finally takes a break for a massage. But the Zen moment is shattered when she overhears an argument in her friend Aimee's vintage home decor shop that ends in murder. 

Wracked by guilt over her failure to intervene, Pepper investigates, only to discover a web of deadly connections that could ensnare a friend - and Pepper herself.

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries and the Spice Shop Mysteries—and the first author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction. Her first historical short story, "All God's Sparrows," is nominated for the 2018 Agatha Award for Best Short Story; read it on her website. A past president of Sisters in Crime and a current board member of Mystery Writers of America, she lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.

Swing by my website and join the mailing list for my seasonal newsletter. And join me on Facebook where I announce lots of giveaways from my cozy writer friends.

Beef Stroganoff #Recipe @PegCochran

Beef Stroganoff is a wonderfully classic dish--fit for the finest company.  This recipe, which I found online and adapted somewhat, is not quite as elegant but makes wonderful comfort food and is still delicious enough for company.  With this recipe you can use a less pricey cut of meat since the meat will cook in the oven for an hour.  The recipe calls for round steak--I used a London Broil I had in the freezer and which I suspected was probably going to taste better in a recipe like this than simply thrown on the grill.

I made enough for two meals and it froze very well.  I love having something delicious to pull from the freezer on a night when I'm too busy to cook or don't feel like it!

Ingredients

2 1/2 lbs. round steak cut into 1/2 inch strips *
1/4 cup vegetable or olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup red wine
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup sour cream (I used low fat)
1 large onion sliced
2 cups mushrooms sliced
1/4 cup tomato paste
3 tablespoons flour
1 10 3/4-ounce can beef consomme condensed (not beef broth)
1 bay leaf crumbled.

*It's easier to slice the meat if it's slightly frozen

Directions

Heat oil in saute pan and add steak.  Brown meat quickly and transfer to casserole or Dutch oven.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

 

 

In the drippings, saute onion until soft and golden.  Add garlic and cook briefly. Remove from pan and add to Dutch oven.

Add mushrooms to pan and saute approximately five minutes, stirring often.  Add mushrooms to Dutch oven.

Deglaze pan with wine, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, then mix in tomato paste, bay leaf, flour and consomme.  Stir well and pour over meat and vegetables in Dutch oven.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees for one hour.  Remove from oven and stir in sour cream.

Stroganoff is traditionally served over noodles, but you can also serve with rice or mashed potatoes or even orzo for something different.

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But the townspeople get more than just the excitement of hayrides, tractor pulls, and cotton candy when Shelby’s neighbor and volunteer fireman, Jake Taylor, extricates the body of Zeke Barnstable instead of a dummy during a demonstration of the Jaws of Life. The fact that Jake and Zeke were known to be at odds plants suspicion in the minds of the police. As evidence against Jake grows, Shelby knows she has to plow through the clues to weed out the true killer and save her friend.

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Where's the Beef?

When I was young, my go-to recipe for company was Beef Stroganoff. The recipe I used is long gone and I haven't made it in years. As I recall, I used stew meat, and it simmered for a while. We've had such a cold winter that I thought it might be fun to make it again.

I went online, assuming my old recipe would pop up, and I would recognize it. But to my surprise, Beef Stroganoff has morphed into a quick weeknight dinner. No long simmering at all! How very odd. In fact, as I read, I learned that most people were using very nice cuts of steak to make it. Obviously, if you're not going to cook the meat for a long time, a better cut will be more tender. But in the recipes, they sliced the meat and cooked the slices. Gee, I thought, why would you do that to a good cut of beef? That would just dry it out and make it more tough. Why wouldn't you cook the steak separately and then slice it and add it at the last minute?

I had vague memories of using Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and paprika, and oddly enough, chicken broth. But most of the recipes I saw used beef broth. More traditional, perhaps, but I was tempted to use chicken broth. That had something to do with the fact that I had just made a big vat of the stuff.

And then I stumbled upon the most fascinating recipe of all. I did not follow the recipe, but found it fascinating, so I'm going to mention it here. It's by J. Kenji López-Alt at Serious Eats. I liked it because a real chef confirmed my notion of cooking the steak whole and then slicing it. And he used chicken broth! Score! But he also did two things I did not do. Some of you may be tempted to try. He used gelatin to thicken his sauce, and used Asian fish sauce as a flavoring.

So, armed with the knowledge that I might have been onto something by cooking the steaks whole, I went to work. I used tenderloins. They were a fairly thick cut, so I browned them on both sides and finished them in the oven. Feel free to cook them your favorite way. I used a full pound but that's really not necessary unless meat is your thing. It was way too much meat.

The main thing I might do differently next time is add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of cornstarch to the cream before adding the chicken broth. The sauce could have been just a little bit thicker. I thought simmering it uncovered would thicken it but it didn't get as thick as I'd have liked. Simmering it uncovered did enhance the flavor, though, so don't skip that step.

I have to mention that this would be a great way to use leftover steak. Just throw a couple extra steaks on the grill and make Stroganoff a day or two later. Add the cold sliced meat at the very last moment, so the sauce warms it but doesn't cook it.

Beef Stroganoff

1/2 to 3/4 pound beef tenderloin
2-4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1-2 tablespoons butter
1 pound mushrooms, (I used white, cremini would probably be fine, too)
1 good sized shallot, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
1/4 cup white wine
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 scant teaspoon paprika
1/2 cup heavy cream or sour cream
1 cup chicken broth
salt and pepper
egg noodles

Preheat oven to 400. Heat 1-2 tablespoons olive oil and brown the steaks on both sides. Finish in hot oven for about 5 minutes. Remove to a plate and let rest.

Meanwhile, slice the mushrooms and mince the shallots. Heat 1-2 tablespoons olive oil and the butter in a large pan and saute the mushrooms and shallots. When cooked, add the white wine, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and paprika. (If using 1/2 teaspoon corn starch, whisk into the cream now.) Heat the chicken broth and whisk as you pour it slowly into the cream. Add the mixture to the mushrooms, bring to a boil and immediately turn down. Simmer uncovered for four to five minutes. Slice the steak, and add any juices to the simmering sauce.

Cook the egg noodles according to directions. If adding the meat to the sauce, do it just before serving. Salt and pepper to taste.

You can serve this one of two ways.

1. Place a serving of noodles on a plate. Mix the beef with the sauce and ladle over the noodles.

2. Place a serving of noodles on a plate. Lay strips of beef on top of the noodles. Ladle the mushroom sauce over top.

Cook the steaks.

Saute mushrooms with shallots.

Whisk hot chicken broth into the cream very slowly so it doesn't curdle.

Add the seasonings and simmer, uncovered.

Slice the beef.

Tender beef and delicious sauce!