Beef Stroganoff

My sister is someone I have mentioned once or twice in an earlier post related to cooking, and my efforts today relate to another of her suggested recipes.

Count Pavel Stroganov was a Russian celebrity-gourmet in turn of the century St Petersburg, and the man some point to as having introduced beef stroganoff, but an 1871 Russian cookbook suggests otherwise. In either case, most people are aware that beef stroganov reached American dinner tables from Russia. A hundred or so years after Count Stroganov, our adaptations and tweaks have made “beef stroganoff” out of the original beef stroganov. The Russian recipe called for sliced beef sautéed, in a sauce of sour cream. No doubt there were embellishments to the beef and sour cream, but who knows what they were?

I took a notion to try making beef stroganoff, since a friend was coming for dinner on Saturday; good opportunity to try my sister’s stroganoff. This recipe is familiar from dinner at her home, and delicious each of the two or three times she has served it.

BEEF STROGANOFF

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound of lean ground beef

2 cups of sliced mushrooms

1/2 of one large onion, chopped

1 can of cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup

1 package of Lipton onion soup

1 container (16 ounces) of sour cream

about one cup of water

1 package of egg noodles, or rice

Brown the ground beef in a large skillet. While that’s underway prepare the mushrooms and onion. When there is still some pink in the beef, add the chopped onion and sliced mushrooms. Next, stir in the Lipton onion soup, followed by the cream of mushroom (or chicken) soup. Now add some water to thin the thick soup. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring the mixture now and then. Allow it to simmer for about fifteen minutes while you cook the noodles, make a salad and maybe a vegetable. A colorful vegetable enhances the look of the dish, since stroganoff with either noodles or rice has a less than colorful appearance on the plate.

This is a quick and easy dinner to prepare, and with the amounts listed above, unless you’re feeding members of the football team, there will be enough leftover for another meal. Have not tried it myself, but some people use ground turkey and a little less sour cream in a bid to make the stroganoff a more heart healthy recipe. Either way, it is a dish you can prepare quickly and easily for yourself, or guests coming for dinner. As the Russians say, “Horoshiĭ appetit!”