Recipe: Beef Stroganoff

Beef Stroganoff, over potatoes

Beef stroganoff was a staple of my supper club back in college. It was basically beef stew with some sour cream mixed in at the point of serving to add richness and a bit of tang. I’m grown up now, plus have a cabinet full of seasonings, so today’s recipe is a little more complex. But I’ve stopped short of fussing over the sour cream separating and curdling as many recipes do nowadays. Makes 4 main dish servings.

Ingredients:
1 lb or so sirloin or other lean beef (round steak is fine)
½ lb button mushrooms
1 medium onion, sliced thin
4 T butter
½ t dried thyme
1 c red or white wine
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T fish sauce
½ t Kosher salt, or to taste
¼ t ground black pepper
2 T cornstarch
½ c sour cream

Method: Freeze the meat (or defrost frozen steaks) to the point that you can just cut it with a sharp knife. Slice as thin as you can. Clean the mushrooms, cut into thick slices and sauté in 2 T butter until well browned. Add the sliced onion to the pan (which will be dry at this point) and sweat until tender. Reserve the onions and mushrooms and add remaining butter, thyme and pepper to the pan. Saute the meat until all pieces are browned, no more than 5 minutes. Reserve. Add wine to deglaze the pan and cook down somewhat; remove ½ c and mix with 2 T cornstarch into a slurry without lumps. Return to the pan along with Worcestershire and fish sauces and simmer until sauce thickens. Return the mushrooms, onions and beef to the sauté pan and toss gently until hot. Taste for salt and add as needed; you probably won’t need much.

Add sour cream and toss a few times until the cream is warm but not heated to the point where it will curdle. Serve over egg noodles, rice or chopped boiled potatoes. If you like, serve with more sour cream on the side to be added to the preference of your guests.