Beef Stroganoff
I don’t know how we ended up with 17 containers of sour cream in the refrigerator. Probably some missed communication about who was picking up the sour cream for the onion dip (which we have made three times over the holidays – shameful).
Much of our sour cream stash came from what I call The Russian Store. It’s actually the Aleksey Market in Nashville. I did not know of The Russian Store until my son, a senior at UT and a Russian student, took me there. It is exotic and full of interesting foods. But the conversation is a little hard to follow.
Я хочу немножко сметан пожалуйста. (I would like some sour cream please, says Noah.)
Мне нравится в том, что моя мама совсем не понимает, что я говорю. (I enjoy that my mother has no idea what I’m saying, he adds.)
Сколько стоит ваше пиво? (How much is your beer?)
By the way, Russian sour cream is wicked good.
So, of course, we had to make Beef Stroganoff (Бефстроганов Befstróganov). By the way, I have looked at hundreds of photos of Beef Stroganoff and this is not a dish that photographs well. It looks rather like dog food. Sorry about that. If you don’t have beef tenderloin scraps, which I’m proud to say I did, you can use flank or skirt steak cut across the grain into strips.
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 16 ounces fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons Madeira
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
- Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 1 ½ pounds beef tenderloin scraps, cut into strips
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprida
- 1 ½ cups beef stock or broth
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 16-ounce package egg noodles
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Heat the oil over medium high heat in a large sauté pan. Add the onion and sauté until translucent. Add the garlic and continue cooking for one minute. Add the mushrooms and continue cooking until the mushrooms have given off their liquid. Deglaze the pan with the Madeira. Season with the thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Reserve in a mixing bowl.
- Add a little more oil to the pan and add the meat. Saute until it’s browned on all sides, about 3-4 minutes.
- Mix ⅓ cup of the stock with the flour. Reserve.
- Add the tomato paste to the meat and cook for about a minute. Add the rest of the stock. Simmer for about five minutes.
- Add the flour and stock mixture to the pan to thicken the sauce. Add the mushrooms, onions and sour cream. Stir to blend over low heat.
- Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Drain and stir in the butter. Serve the stroganoff over the noodles.
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