MY HUSBAND’S FAVORITE FOOD
Hello!
I have mentioned to you before that I am married to a “meat and potatoes” kinda guy. Well, a more accurate description of him might actually be he’s a “meat and noodles” sorta fellow. This is because my husband’s favorite food is Beef Stroganoff. So, when I want him to be really happy, or it’s his birthday, or I am trying to butter him up, I make him Beef Stroganoff!
I started making Beef Stroganoff long before I met my husband Brad. In fact, I’ve been making it for about 25 years. I recall that little factoid because I remember the circumstances that motivated me to make Beef Stroganoff for the first time. In my past life, when I was in the business of manufacturing baby cloths, my corporate offices and warehouse were located in Huntington Beach, California. There was a strip mall near my office that housed a tiny little restaurant that we used to frequent for lunch. The Russian Chef/Owner made a killer Beef Stroganoff that I often ordered. To this day, I remember it as being the best Beef Stroganoff I have ever tasted! What made it extra special to my taste buds was his use of fresh dill. One day we went to the strip mall in hopes of having lunch in his tiny little restaurant and it was gone!! No more delicious Beef Stroganoff for me. Unless, of course, I tried to prepare it myself. Well, that is exactly what I did! I tried to remember all of the subtle flavors of the dish I liked so much and went home on a mission to duplicate it. I came up with a recipe that I like a lot, and so does my husband.
I really have no idea how authentic it is. When I visited Russia, the land where Beef Stroganoff originated, I did not eat it there. So, please forgive me if this knock-off recipe from a strip mall restaurant in Huntington Beach is completely un-authentic. What it is, however, is pretty darn good. So, without further adieu, here is how I prepare my husband’s favorite food: Beef Stroganoff.
Dice one brown onion.
Add the onion to a large pot with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Saute until tender and translucent.
Cut up a 3 pound chuck roast into bite size pieces, removing any extra fat or gristle.
Sprinkle the meat generously with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Then toss the meat around to coat.
Now, sprinkle 1 cup of flour onto the meat and toss it around again…
coating all pieces of meat with flour.
Add the meat to the pot with the onions and cook it until it is no longer red.
Now you will need 3 cups of beef broth. Because I always have it on hand, I use “Better Than Bouillon” to make my broth.
I simply add 1/4 cup bouillon paste to 3 cups of hot water and stir. Voila! You have yourself 3 cups of good tasting broth. Pour the broth over the meat and begin cooking on low heat.
Next I add 1/4 cup Sherry. I love the flavor that Sherry adds to meat. The Sherry I am showing in this photo is an inexpensive and not particularly good, grocery store brand that is readily available in my neck of the woods. A good quality Sherry is always recommended. Add that to the pot and simmer away on low heat. At this point, give it a taste and see if it may need a bit more salt and pepper. Add some to taste if needed. The bouillon is rather salty, so you should not need to add much.
Now comes the good part, the fresh dill. I add 2 heaping tablespoons of it to the pot.
Now, mind you, I don’t always have fresh dill when I decide to make my husband’s favorite meal. This is especially true in the winter when it is not available in my herb garden. So, I have been known to resort to dried dill weed in a pinch because I always have it on hand. Because dried herbs are more potent than fresh, add 1 teaspoon of dried dill weed if you don’t have fresh.
Now, place a tight-fitting lid on your pot of Stroganoff and leave it to simmer on low heat for a couple of hours. Check on it regularly, giving it a good stir to insure that it is not burning or sticking to the bottom of the pot. The Stroganoff needs to simmer low and slow for 2 hours. This long cooking period helps it to develop flavor and also tenderizes the meat. You want the meat to cook until it is almost fall-apart tender. The sauce will also thicken and reduce over the course of cooking it for 2 hours. If it reduces too much, it is permissible to add a little water.
While your Stroganoff is cooking, you will need to prepare the mushrooms. I use about 1 pound of button mushrooms. Brush them clean, cut off the dried bottom of the stem and slice them up.
Add 2 tablespoons of butter to a frying pan, toss in the sliced mushrooms and cook them until they begin to brown and get a little toasty. Some folks might be opposed to cooking their mushrooms this long, as they do lose a lot of moisture and it is a bit uncustomary. However, in doing so, you develop an amazing amount of flavor that will make your Stroganoff even more flavorful. Once the mushrooms are sufficiently cooked, set them aside for later.
When your sauce is ready and you are about 20 minutes from the time you wish to serve your Beef Stroganoff, get out a large pot and fill it with water. This will be used to boil the egg noodles.
I use a large bag of extra wide egg noodles for my Stroganoff.
Turn the heat on high and add enough salt to make the water taste like the ocean. Once the water reaches a full boil, add the bag of noodles and cook according to package instructions.
I like to serve fresh, steamed green beans with my Stroganoff. I think they go well together. So, while the water is boiling and the noodles are subsequently cooking, I recommend that you steam some green beans as an accompaniment.
Now, while the noodles are boiling and the beans are steaming, head on back to to your Stroganoff sauce, which by now is all tasty and tender and remove it from the heat. Add 1 cup of sour cream to the sauce .
The sauce should not be too hot when the sour cream is mixed in or it will curdle. Curdling is not a good thing.
Mix the sour cream until combined. By the way, the addition of sour cream also thins your sauce a bit, so don’t worry if it seemed to thicken up and reduce during the 2 hour cooking period. The sour cream will thin it down.
Now, go grab the luscious mushrooms that you previously sauteed and add them to the sauce.
By now your noodles will be cooked, drained and ready to immediately dish up into low sided bowls.
Pour the Stroganoff Sauce over the hot noodles, garnish with a sprig of fresh dill, that is if you remembered to save some from the chopping block earlier. If, like me, you forgot to save some dill, grab a sprig of parsley and call it good.
Now, go eat it all up.
- 1 Onion, Diced
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 3 Lbs. Chuck Roast, cut into 1" Thin Slices
- Kosher Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper to Taste
- 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
- ¼ Cup Better Than Bouillon
- 3 Cups Hot Water
- ¼ Cup Sherry
- 2 Heaping Tablespoons Fresh Dill, Minced, or 1 Teaspoon Dried Dill Weed
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
- 1 Lb. Fresh Button Mushrooms
- 1 12 Ounce Bag Egg Noodles
- 1 Cup Sour Cream
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot.
- Add diced onions and cook until tender and translucent.
- Generously sprinkle cut up chuck roast with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Toss to coat.
- Add 1 cup of flour to the meat, toss to coat.
- Add meat to onions and cook on medium heat until no longer red.
- Combine the Better Than Bouillon with the hot water and pour over the meat.
- Add Sherry and stir to combine.
- Add additional salt and pepper to taste.
- Cover the pot with a tightly fitting lid.
- Cook low and slow for 2 hours, checking on it regularly and stirring to keep from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large frying pan.
- Add sliced mushrooms and cook until browned and beginning to get crispy.
- minutes before ready to serve, cook egg noodles following package instructions.
- Returning to the Stroganoff sauce, remove it from the heat add 1 cup of sour cream.
- The sauce should not be too hot at this point or the sour cream will curdle.
- Add mushrooms to the sauce.
- Place hot, cooked noodles in a low sided bowl.
- Pour sauce over the noodles.
- Garnish with fresh dill.
- ENJOY!
PS – The folks at Better Than Bouillon & Anthony’s Egg Noodles don’t know me. But I know and like them!
So there you have it: MY HUSBAND’S FAVORITE FOOD
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