Crack open the Blue Nun, its 70s night over here at Chez Hoppo Bumpo. I'll be dolled up in my caftan - the green satin one with the frogs and lily pads. Its beef stroganoff, with rice, on the menu.
According to Wikipedia, stroganoff - which originated in Russia - is sautéed pieces of beef served in a sauce with sour cream. The encyclopedic entry goes on to explain that after gaining popularity outside of Russia, there has been quite a bit of variation in the recipe.
With the "quite a bit of variation" caveat, I thought I might just get away with my complete recipe hack. So, fancy a bit of retro indulgence?
To make this, I tossed diced beef in some flour and paprika. Next I threw it into my slow cooker with plenty of sliced mushrooms. After that I got out my trusty ... can opener ... and added a tin of condensed mushroom soup. This was followed by a massive dollop of tomato paste and a top-up of beef stock. I slow cooked the stroganoff, but it would go equally well in the oven or on the stove-top (longer cooking at lower temperatures will make the meat more tender).
At the end I stirred in some very rich, indulgent King Island creme fraiche. Using an extravagant dairy product negates the lazy use of tinned soup: serve this stroganoff at your dinner party with confidence. You can, of course, also use regular sour cream, but if left heating for too long it will "split". Creme fraiche is more stable and gives a better result should you be overcome by the Blue Nun and forget the dinner.
Sounds delicious. I think I will have to give that one a go.
ReplyDeleteI have never made beef stroganoff, for some reason I get the feeling the coversation between my hubster and I will go like this "whats this darl?" "Beef darl" "yeah but it's what you've done with it". I will have to give it a go!
ReplyDeleteHey - don't knock the strog. I'm a huge fan. I've only ever tried the Nigella recipe, but this one looks gooooood.
ReplyDeleteSounds a lot easier than the recipe I followed last time... well, my ONLY time.... I get these hankerings for the flavours of my 1970's childhood sometimes but the "split" cream thing ruined it for me.
ReplyDeleteI never made it myself, but I loved it when my mom made it.
ReplyDeleteYum!
I love your theory about the extravagant dairy product.
ReplyDeleteCooking with soup, definitely! Mr Tacco sometimes asks for the 'thing with the soup in' - which, little does he know, is not the only one with a can of soup in it. It goes like this: chicken, veggies, soup, wine - cook disappears off to sew for an hour - dinner.
ReplyDeleteI used to like making this, but haven't done so for many years. Perhaps I will have to resurect
ReplyDeleteLove a good strog!
ReplyDeleteI hope you started with a prawn cocktail!!
ReplyDeleteStrog looks good.