Beef Stroganoff

It’s not the prettiest looking dish, but Beef Stroganoff was always a holiday favorite around Katie’s home growing up. This dish calls for tender slices of beef that melt in your mouth with mushrooms and onions. The best part - you can easily make this dish in advance and store in the freezer for a rainy or snowy day!

Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. beef tenderloin, thinly sliced*

• 1 lb. fresh mushrooms (such as a mix of baby bella/cremini and shiitake mushrooms), cleaned and thinly sliced**

• 1 tablespoon dried porcini powder (optional)

• 1 medium onion, diced

• 4 tablespoons butter, divided

• 3 cups beef stock (such as Kitchen Basics Unsalted Beef Stock), plus a little extra***

• 1/4 cup ketchup

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1/2 cup quick-dissolving flour (such as Wondra Flour)

• 1 cup sour cream

• Kosher salt

• Fresh ground black pepper

• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves (plus a little extra for garnish)

• Dutch oven

• Egg noodles or basmati rice (for serving with the Beef Stroganoff)

Instructions

In a large dutch oven, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium heat. Add the onions, a pinch of salt, and some black pepper, and cook until the onion is translucent, about 5-10 minutes. When the onion is almost finished, add the garlic to the pot and stir. Remove the onion and garlic from the pan and set aside on a plate or tray. Melt another tablespoon of the butter in the pot. Cook the sliced mushrooms in batches (about a handful or two of sliced mushrooms at a time, depending on the size of the pot), until the mushrooms are nicely browned and tender. Remove the cooked mushrooms from the pot and pile onto the onion. Add another tablespoon of butter to the pot as your cooking the second or third batch of mushrooms (if your pot is looking a little dry).

If you’re serving the Beef Stroganoff over noodles or rice, start to bring your pot of water to a boil or start your rice cooker (if you haven’t already).

Once the mushrooms are all cooked and removed to the plate or tray, increase the heat to medium-high and melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in the pot. Brown the beef tenderloin slices in batches and remove to another plate or tray. Each batch should cook pretty quickly (no more than a minute or two total). The beef fat should start to collect in the pot, so you shouldn’t need any more butter. However, if the pan looks like it needs it, feel free to put in a little extra butter or drizzle of vegetable oil before adding a subsequent batch of beef tenderloin.

At this point, you have a plate/tray of onion, garlic, and mushroom, a plate of browned beef tenderloin, and the pot should be empty, over medium-high heat. Add 2 cups of beef stock and the ketchup to the pot. Increase to high heat and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Meanwhile, in a measuring cup or small bowl, add the Wondra to the remaining 1 cup of beef stock and stir well to combine. Stir this Wondra mixture into the pot and bring to a simmer. Decrease the heat to medium and add the cooked mushroom, 1 tablespoon dried porcini powder (if using), onion, garlic, and sliced beef back to the pot (including any liquid that may have collected on the plates). Stir the mixture together to a uniform consistency and simmer for about 5 minutes to allow all the flavors to come together a bit. Now’s a good time to drop your pasta into boiling water to cook if you haven’t already done so.

Taste the Beef Stroganoff and adjust the seasoning with salt and black pepper (feel free to use a heavy hand on black pepper, we usually do). If the mixture seems too thick (even knowing that you’ll be adding sour cream in a minute), thin with a little extra stock (about a 1/4 cup at a time). When the seasoning is where you like it, turn the heat to very low and stir in the sour cream and 2 tablespoons thyme leaves until just combined. Check the seasoning once more and adjust if needed.

Ladle the Beef Stroganoff over the cooked egg noodles or rice. Serve hot.

Make ahead: If you’re making this dish in advance, stop just before adding the sour cream and thyme and place in an air-tight container. Store in the fridge for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to eat the Beef Stroganoff, thaw the mixture (if taking out of the freezer) and bring to a bare simmer in a heavy pot. Stir in the thyme leaves and sour cream as above. Serve over egg noodles or rice. If you plan to portion the recipe into smaller servings for freezing, just remember to similarly adjust the amount of sour cream.

Notes

*We love to use up some of our off cuts from breaking down a whole beef tenderloin, such as the wing, tip, or chain of the tenderloin. If you don’t want to use tenderloin, you can also use sirloin. Because the beef is cooked fairly quickly in this recipe, you want to use a cut of beef that is tender from the start. In order to make it really easy to slice, place the beef in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes, then use a very sharp knife to cut thin slices (about 1/8” thick, if you can).

**To easily clean mushrooms, pull out your salad spinner (have we mentioned recently how much we love a salad spinner?). Either remove the stem or trim the end of the stem (we usually de-stem the mushrooms for applications like this, but it’s a personal preference). With cold water running, quickly rinse the tops of the mushrooms and use your fingers to help release any visible dirt from the surface. You can use a vegetable brush if you like, but you don’t want to damage the flesh of the mushroom too much. Toss the cleaned mushroom into the colander of the salad spinner and repeat with the remaining mushrooms. Give them a few good spins to dry out, draining the water from the bowl as needed.

***You may want to have a little extra beef stock on hand (about to about another 1/2 cup or so), in case you feel the need to thin out the sauce a little.

Beef Stroganoff over Egg Noodles