Sometimes, you just want a big ole pot of beef and ‘shrooms and sour cream-y sauce; and sometimes, you just decide to go for it with ground beef in place of the more usual cuts of sirloin.
Rich was away working in D.C., and I’d just returned from a weekend visiting him (and my favorite sister) there; coming home to a puddle in the laundry room and a dead water heater.
Stroganoff was called for.
Good thing I had a packet of ground beef in the freezer and some ‘shrooms in the fridge.
INGREDIENTS
•8 oz sliced ‘shrooms
•2 cups diced sweet onion
•2 tbsp butter
•A pinch of salt
•1 tbsp Cajun Power Spicy Garlic Pepper Sauce (or your fave hot sauce, to taste)
•1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
•1-1/4 lb ground beef
•1/2 tsp black pepper
•1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper
•1/4 tsp allspice
•1/4 tsp granulated garlic
•4 cups beef or veal stock
•1 bay leaf
•Cajun Power Spicy Garlic Pepper Sauce (or hot sauce) – to taste
•Worcestershire sauce- to taste
•1/2 cup sour cream
Melt one tablespoon of the butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and sweat for about five minutes. Stir in the ‘shrooms, Cajun Power, and Worcestershire and continue cooking for another ten minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in the pan over medium high heat, then add the ground chuck, black pepper, Aleppo pepper, allspice, and garlic. Cook, breaking the meat up, until it is cooked through and most of the juices have been cooked off.
Drain, then return to the pan along with the onion and ‘shrooms, the veal or beef stock, and the bay leaf. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, until the stock is reduced.
Remove the bay leaf and give it a taste. Yes? No? Add more Cajun Power and/or Worcestershire sauce to suit, then cook for another couple of minutes.
Reduce the heat to low, stir the sour cream, then gently warm through and serve over buttered noodles with poppy seeds sprinkled over the top.
Sure beats that stuff from the box.