cook: beef stroganoff

I bought a package of white button mushrooms, which I thought I was going to cook for pizza and on impulse turned into beef stroganoff which I thought I was going to make with ground beef, but instead was cooked with chuck beef tips. I had watched an America’s Test Kitchen video of beef stroganoff made with ground beef and where the noodles are cooked directly in the stroganoff rather than boiled separately. And so I experimented. First the mise en place including freshly harvested green and purple string beans from our garden.      

Differently from the video, I didn't cook the chopped onions and cubed beef and sliced mushrooms separately. I browned the beef first and remembered to have the flour, beef broth and wine for deglazing at the ready.

I sprinkled the flour on to the beef and wish I had not because the fond was too much at the bottom of the pan. And so I added the onions and mushrooms next to add moisture back into the pan.

 

And the recipe called for simmering the noodles in an open pan, but I worried that too much moisture would escape and so I used a lid to keep the steam in.

But I noticed that the noodles were softening too quickly and took the lid off and let the casserole continue simmering. And it didn't take long at all for the noodles to cook. The package indicated 6 minutes for al dente noodles, and before I knew it, the casserole was ready for sour cream.

Note to self, no need for lid and omit the flour on the browning meat as there was enough fond for deglazing the pan and enough starch on the noodles to thicken the sauce.

The noodles were a bit too gummy for my taste, and I think in the future I'm okay with cooking the noodles separately though they are more flavorful when cooked with the stewed meat and mushrooms.

Roasted green beans may be an unappetizing color compared to steamed green beans, but they were tender and delicious. Today's Bay Area weather was windy and chilly, and so comfort food and homey smells emanating from a warm kitchen were the right call for a gloomy looking early evening.

Cooking: Beef Stroganoff

The weather here in Northern California has finally dipped to a low of 59 degrees to a high of 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Since I was no longer sweltering and was craving something beefy in our meal rotation, I cooked beef stroganoff. My mise en place was comprised of beef tips or chuck beef cut into 1" cubes, chopped yellow and red onion, sliced crimini mushrooms, sour cream, butter, minced garlic, Dijon mustard, beef bone broth, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, chopped scallion, chives, and parsley. Oh and my glass of Chardonnay to deglaze the pan after browning the meat.

First I seared the beef chunks in olive oil (turn the burner on high and then turn the burner down to medium high)and continued to sauté them until they were caramelized or browned on one or two sides. I then removed the beef from the grease and set them aside. I added a bit of butter to the cast iron and sautéed the aromatics in the fat on that medium high heat. Once the onions were softened and the garlic cooked a bit down, I turned down the heat to medium and threw the rest of my wine to deglaze the pan of the fond and put the reserved beef back into the pan. I next poured some beef broth into the pan to prevent burning as well as the Worcestershire and soy sauces and Dijon mustard and let the meat and vegetables simmer in this sauce for a good 35 to 40 minutes on medium high to medium heat to further braise the beef.

All throughout the cooking of the stroganoff, I kept tasting and adding broth and maybe more soy sauce or Worcestershire for that umami sensation and consolidating flavors as as the sauce cooked and evaporated. I anticipated 30 more minutes of simmering to tenderize the beef and added the sliced crimini and turned up the heat back to medium high and stirred.

Even after simmering in the beef broth for a good thirty minutes, the mushrooms added more moisture even as I was trying to drive it off. And so I put a tablespoon of the beef sauce into a cup and mixed a couple teaspoons of corn starch before incorporating it back into the sauce. Finally after cooking for what seemed an ever such a long time, the sauce looked thick enough to be called a gravy.

I had looked for flat egg noodles at Trader Joe's which it didn't have, and so I settled for cooking rotini pasta instead. And then I scattered the chopped scallion, chives, and parsley atop the finished stroganoff.

And instead of incorporating the cooked pasta into the stroganoff, I kept it separate to spoon the stroganoff on top and to prevent the noodles from getting soft or mushy. I like my noodles al dente. I had posted these pics on a Facebook group called Quarantine Cooking, and an Irishman commented that he didn't understand us Americans eating stroganoff with noodles as he prefers rosemary roasted potatoes or garlic toast to sop up the sauce and that he thought noodles would be too soft for him. And so textures are all a matter of preference because I could see liking beef stroganoff on mashed potatoes or maybe even polenta with a little bit of Parmesan and butter. In any case, I now have a yummy leftover in the fridge for the hubs to eat if I should ever instead crave sushi or good Japanese ramen.