If you like sour cream, this is a delicious recipe for beef stroganoff that I found on SimplyRecipes.com. I was searching for a recipe that didn't use canned soup (you know my problem with MSG) so I didn't have to create my own recipe. I made a couple of modifications to this, and it was very tasty.
Beef Stroganoff
Note 1: You can substitute the sour cream and lemon juice for a cup of full-fat plain yogurt (room temperature). Do not allow to boil.
Note 2: This recipe can be modified to be made with a crock pot instead, just be sure to leave out the sour cream till just before serving.
butter
1 lb. ground chuck (or ground beef)
salt and pepper
1 yellow onion, chopped (about 1 c.)
8 ounces sliced cremini mushrooms (can substitute button mushrooms), sliced
1/3 c. dry sherry*, dry white wine, or water
1/2 c. chopped parsley, loosely packed
1 1/4 c. sour cream (room temperature)
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. paprika or more to taste
8 ounces cooked egg noodles (or cooked brown rice or boiled potatoes)
Start cooking pasta (or rice or potatoes).
If using ground beef, cook in a separate pan until lightly browned, adding onion, salt, and pepper during last few minutes of cook time. Skip to #3.
1. If using ground chuck, heat a large sauté pan on medium high heat. Melt 1 tsp. butter in pan and swirl it around. Sprinkle bottom of pan generously with salt. Working in batches as not to crowd the meat (crowding it will make it hard to brown), break up ground beef and add it to pan. Sprinkle meat with salt. Do not stir meat, as stirring will prevent browning. Once meat is well-browned on one side (a couple minutes, depending on how hot the pan), use tongs or fork or metal spatula to flip to other side. Once that side is browned too, use slotted spoon to remove from pan and set aside. Continue to brown meat in batches, adding a teaspoon of butter to the pan with each batch if needed, and salting pan and meat, until it is all browned. Remove meat from pan. Drain excess fat from pan.
2. Lower heat to medium. Add onions to pan. If you are working with very lean meat, you may not have any residual fat in the pan. If this is the case, you'll want to add in a tablespoon of olive oil or butter to pan. Cook onions, scraping up the meat drippings, until soft, about 5 minutes. Remove onions from the pan (add to meat).
3. Add 1 Tb. of butter to pan with beef, increase heat to medium high. Add sliced mushrooms. Sauté until nicely browned (about 4 minutes).
4. Add sherry (or alcohol substitution) to pan to deglaze it, scraping up any browned bits. Let sherry reduce by at least a half, then lower heat to low.
5. Remove pan from heat. Mix in sour cream and paprika until smooth. Return pan to very low heat, and do not let sour cream boil (or it may curdle). You may add a few tablespoons of water to mixture to thin it out a bit at any time. Stir in lemon juice and about 1/4-1/2 tsp. of salt (to taste). Stir in meat and onions. Stir in chopped parsley. Add more salt, pepper, and/or paprika to taste.
* I found this great site for alcohol substitutions and calculated the amount based on these instructions: For 1/2 cup sherry use 1/4 cup vinegar + 1 tablespoon sugar + 1/4 c. water OR 1 tablespoon vinegar, plus chicken stock or water to make 1/2 cup. One of these combinations definitely beats just plain water!
