Beef. ‘Shrooms. Wicked nicely seasoned sauce (if I do say so myself).
Oh, and of course, sour cream.
This is one of Rich’s very favorite of my dinners, but I hadn’t made it in a while because of trouble finding the particular cut of beef I normally use (sirloin tips).
Then, Rich was in New England on bidness, and ordered Stroganoff at a pretty decent restaurant, and he was not happy.
“It was just so bland!” he said.
Hmmm. 15 years of eating my Stroganoff will do that to a guy.
See, I add rather liberal amounts of pepper, and Worcestershire plus my favorite Spicy Garlic Pepper sauces to my Stroganoff.
Authentic Russian recipe? Not by a long shot; but, number one: I am not Russian and, number two: it really is wicked tasty. So, when we came across some beef bits for stew at the market and Rich mentioned my trying it out for Stroganoff, I decided to try…
INGREDIENTS
•1 lb beef stew meat
•Steak and chop marinade
•1/2 cup flour
•1/2 tsp garlic powder
•1/2 tsp paprika
•1/2 tsp seasoned salt
•1/2 tsp black pepper
•8 oz ‘shrooms, sliced
•1 onion, diced
•1 clove garlic, minced
•1 tbsp butter
•Olive oil
•Red vermouth (or other red wine)
•32 oz chicken or veggie stock
•Aleppo pepper
•1/2 to 1 cup sour cream
•Sea salt, to taste
•Tellicherry black pepper, to taste
•Egg noodles, cooked and drained
•Butter
•Poppy seeds
First things first (like, the day before you plan on making the Stroganoff), rinse the stew meat and pat dry.
Make your marinade and add to the beef in a gallon zipper bag.
Place in a rimmed plate or flat-bottomed dish (to catch any leaks) and stash in the fridge for at least twelve hours – I just do it overnight – flipping the bag when you think of it.
Drain the marinated beef well, then whisk together the flour, garlic powder, paprika, and seasoned salt and sprinkle just a bit on the beef.
Toss to coat, then dredge in the remaining seasoned flour and set aside.
Melt a tablespoon of butter with some olive oil in a stir-fry pan over medium high heat, then add the onion and garlic and sauté for five minutes.
Add the ‘shrooms and a bit of the Worcestershire and Cajun Power Spicy Garlic sauces and continue sautéing until the shrooms are browned and most pan juices have cooked off.
Transfer the onion and ‘shroom mixture to a bowl and set aside.
Heat some more olive oil in the stir-fry pan and add the flour-coated marinated beef in stages – you don’t want to crowd the pan.
Brown the meat on all sides – don’t worry about cooking it through at this point, then turn out on a paper towel lined plate to drain and repeat with the remaining beef, adding additional olive oil as needed before adding the next bit o’ beef.
Once the last bits of beef have been browned and lightly crisped, deglaze the pan by pouring in a bit of red vermouth into the bottom of the pan and scraping up any tasty bits of crunchy goodness stuck to the bottom of the pan.
Add the chicken stock, onion and ‘shroom mixture, the Aleppo pepper, and the beef and bring to a simmer, stirring often.
Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring often, until the sauce has reduced and thickened. You may want to take a taste of the sauce to check the seasoning – it should be nicely spiced with just a bit of a bite.
Once the sauce has been reduced and thickened nicely, lower the heat so that it stops bubbling and stir in the sour cream – I think 1/2 cup should do it, but feel free to add more as your prefer.
Warm the Stroganoff, stirring, to heat through – do not bring back to the boil or the cream will separate (everything will taste fine, the sauce will just not look as smooth and creamy).
Note: you can replace the sour cream with crème fraîche and then happily let the whole mixture bubble merrily away (still stirring often, of course) but your Stroganoff will have a sweeter flavor, so you may want to add additional Worcestershire and/or garlic pepper sauce.
However you’ve come to this creamy pot o’ beef and ‘shroom goodness, give the warmed through sauce another taste and add a bit of sea salt and freshly ground Tellicherry (my favorite black pepper) pepper to taste.
Serve over cooked egg noodles that have been tossed with a bit of butter and poppy seeds.