RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Beef Stroganoff

By Shelly Koon

Let’s all take a step back in time to the 1970’s. Remember that boxed pasta stuff your mom used to make? Right into the pot, mixed with some meat, and on the table in a half hour-ish? And even though it came in, like, 73 different flavors, they all somehow still tasted the same? Even the tuna versions! As I have said before, my mom did not like to cook. She could but she didn’t like to, so boxed meat helper was often on our table.

Hamburger Helper was conceived by General Mills in response to a meat shortage and escalating meat prices in the early 1970s. The brand made its national debut in August 1971 with five flavors: Beef Noodle, Potato Stroganoff, Hash, Rice Oriental, and Chili Tomato.

As I got older and my home economics teachers helped to expand my palate. The taste of helper beef stroganoff was nothing like the recipe I started using in 9th grade.

According to the Stroganoff Foundation, beef stroganoff started as a peasant dish in Russia, being a common way for peasants with enough money to buy meat to use it and make it last. The dish is served with cubes of beef in a cream sauce, spread over wide noodles.

The dish’s name has unknown origins, but it may be named after the prominent Count Stroganov. The story of beef stroganoff appears to be a mix of fact and fancy. The origins of the Stroganoff clan date back to just before the reign of Ivan the Terrible. In the 1300s, the family swelled its fortunes through trade, land acquisition, and salt mining. Then, as Ivan the Terrible sealed his control over Moscow and all its surrounding states, the Stroganoff family matriarch (Anika Feodorovitch, 1488–1570) made a daring gambit by seizing much of Siberia and allying herself with Ivan, ceding her territory to him in exchange for a long-term land grant. Effectively, this made the Stroganoff family the de facto manager of all of Siberia.

Flash-forward to the 17th century and the Stroganoffs were still closely aligned with the czarist government, and much wealthier for it. The family was now part of a Europe-hopping Russian aristocracy, which is why Count Pavel Stroganoff (1774–1817) was actually born in Paris. The son of Count Alexander Sergeyevich Stroganoff and Princess Ekaterina Troubetzkaya, Pavel is largely a footnote to Russian history. Despite being as low-key as a ridiculously wealthy member of the Russian elite can be (and kind of a hunk), he did serve as a diplomat to Britain and a general in the Napoleonic Wars. Count Stroganoff’s French/Russian background found its way into his diet, as Russian aristocrats would often hire French cooks. Legend says the dish was created by a French chef in the employ of the Stroganov family. The count himself died of tuberculosis at the age of 43, somewhere near Copenhagen. His clan lived on in luxury well into the 19th century, and today they are survived by a vast art collection as well as a grand estate in St. Petersburg known as the Stroganoff Palace.

You can even visit the Stroganoff Palace. Taken by the state in 1917 it became a part of the state’s Russian Museum in 1990. The last heiress to the Stroganoff dynasty, Countess Olga, died in 1837.

The recipe spread throughout Europe as immigrants came west from Soviet States. As Germans, French, Austrians, and other Europeans moved to the new world, beef stroganoff moved with them. These versions are all slightly different, replacing the noodles with rice or potatoes.

If you’d like to serve a vegetable side with this dinner, I suggest something green. Stroganoff is very rich, so you’ll want to balance it out with steamed green beans, fresh green salad, or pickled red cabbage. If you don’t care for egg noodles, try this over rice or a mound of mashed potatoes.

This Beef Stroganoff is made with lean ground beef, ground chicken, ground turkey, or any lean steak cut into thin strips. It is made without cream of mushroom soup, an often-used ingredient in most Americanized versions. I also add spinach and peas, but these can be left out.

Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients

• 16 oz Wide egg noodles or fettucine
• 1 lb ground lean beef or sirloin cut into strips (Any meat works, but beef is obviously the traditional recipe)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 Cup onion diced
• 16 oz mushrooms sliced thickly
• 2 tbsp All Purpose Flour
• 1 tbsp black pepper freshly ground
• 1-2 tsp Kosher or sea salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp dried onion granulated or powdered
• 1 tsp garlic fresh minced, if granulated, or powdered – reduce to 1/2 tsp
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 Cup beef stock- chicken or veg stock work if you’re not using beef
• 1/2 Cup heavy cream whole milk, half and half also works
• 4 Cup fresh spinach or 4 large handfuls – this can be omitted.
• 1 Cup frozen peas- fresh peas also work
• 1 Cup sour cream, Reserve 4 tbsp for topping

Instructions Boil noodles according to package directions in SALTED (about 2 T) water. Drain, then return to pot and add 1 Tbsp butter or oil, stir to coat the noodles. Cover to keep warm and set aside while you prepare the stroganoff. While the noodles are boiling; Sauté Beef in olive oil over medium high heat – reserve 2 Tbsp drippings and pour off the rest. Add extra olive oil if you don’t have 2 Tbsp. Add onions and mushroom and sauté until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms are browned. Sprinkle flour, pepper, salt, garlic & onion seasoning over the mixture and stir. Cook for 2 minutes. Add Beef stock and Worcestershire sauce and stir to combine scraping up browned bits from, the pan. Reduce heat to medium, add heavy cream stirring until thick and bubbly about 5 minutes. Turn off heat. Add spinach and peas. Stir to combine until spinach is wilted. Save 4 Tbsp of sour cream. Add remaining sour cream to your pan stirring to combine. Plate the warmed and buttered noodles then spoon the Stroganoff over adding a dollop of sour cream to each. Add fresh cracked pepper to garnish and serve immediately.