Makeshift Beef Stroganoff

Tonight I got creative, based on a decreasing confluence of ingredients.  I made something approaching a ground beef stroganoff, which turned out fantastic.

I thawed four frozen hamburgers that amounted to probably just over a pound.  I minced two cloves of garlic and pulled maybe a third cup, if that, of diced sweet onion out of the freezer.  I microwaved a cup of water for 99 seconds and dropped in two beef boullion cubes to dissolve.

In the deep sided frying pan I started a few tablespoons of butter melting, tossed in the garlic and the onion (didn’t even bother with thawing first).  Cooked that the appropriate amount and started throwing in the mostly thawed, crumbled burger, mixing it in and letting it get cooked through.

Somewhere in here, not as soon as I should have, I started the water for a 16 oz package of egg noodles.

When the meat was pretty well cooked, I pulled it aside and created an area I tipped the juice into.  I had to use two more tablespoons or so of butter because what was there was not up for the challenge.  Put that in and then started adding tablespoons of flour.  Eventually it ended up being a heaping four tablespoons, one added rather later than ideal.  Cooked that up and added a bit of the broth to thin it when it got out of hand, then when it was cooked and mixed appropriately, added the whole cup of broth.  Stirred that in and got it gravy-like, then thinned it with a cup of water after mixing it in with the meat.  I thought about using milk, and could have, but didn’t.

After that it was three good glops of sour cream.  Half a cup?  Maybe more?  I started with half of a standard container and used about 2/3 of that.

I added plenty of black pepper, a couple good pinches of dill, of which it could have used slightly more but was great for anyone who’d want that element understated, a dash of celery salt, a good dash of paprika, and tiny pinches of red pepper and cumin.

Simmered and stirred a while more, worried it was too thin, which was not at all the case.  I kept going back and tasting again not because it needed adjusting, but because it was so good.

Served that spooned over egg noodles, with French style green beans on the side.  We also had the last bit of a loaf of Italian bread with it.

Definitely a keeper.

I referred to various recipes presented by Chef Google.  One in particular was actually for a quickie ground beef variant and suggested the use of mushroom soup, since stroganoff officially has mushrooms.  That was how I ended up checking the dates on six cans of “cooking” soups and throwing them all away.  They expired between June and October of 2006.  Oops.  Not that we’re attached to mushrooms.  Still, it suggests ways to be creative and make something similar to this with soup as part of the basis.

1. my grandmother’s recipe is a cream of mushroom recipe.  Yummy yummy.

   Posted by caltechgirl  on  01/03  at  08:27 PM  from 

2. Cream of mushroom soup or Golden mushroom soup (I use one of each), 1/2 C sour cream, Worcestershire sauce, onions and meat - the lazy woman’s stroganoff.

   Posted by bogie  on  01/04  at  04:05 AM  from 
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