Disaster Chef: Traditional Beef Stroganoff

Last month I posted about a beef stroganoff with wine sauce. While I was looking for stroganoff recipes, I found many, most with cream of mushroom soup. While I liked the wine sauce, I wanted to try my hand at a more traditional stroganoff, too. So I made this for my family.

I'm not big on using prepackaged foods, so I made my own cream of mushroom soup. See recipe on last week's post, here.

The recipe I used this time was a quick and easy one from Everything in Moderation, again using ground beef, although I used lamb. I admit, I'm not the hugest fan of lamb, and I ended up with a lot of it when one of my friends offered me a year-old sheep. Since it was raised outdoors and not mass-market, of course I accepted. I have to find recipes that will somewhat disguise the flavor, so this one seemed like a good one for some of the ground lamb. But I don't think it would be much different using beef, except beef may have a bit more fat in it.

Here is the recipe. It was super easy!

1 lb. lean ground beef (I used lamb)
1 med. onion, chopped
1 T. Cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water (I used milk here)
1 tsp. garlic powder (here I substituted 3 cloves of fresh garlic, minced)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 cans cream of mushroom soup (I used 2 c. cream of mushroom soup and 1/2 c. whole milk)
1 (16 oz.) pkg. dried egg noodles (we used quinoa for a bed instead of noodles since my sister is gluten free)
1 cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)

Brown beef and onion in skillet till meat is done and onion is transparent (I also added about a cup of sliced portabella mushrooms to the pan with the onion and meat). Drain grease (I didn't do this). Dissolve cornstarch in cold water and pour onto meat. Stir in garlic (saute another 1-2 mins if using fresh), salt & pepper and soups. Cook for five minutes, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and simmer for another 10 minutes (everything was done, so I removed from heat after about 3 minutes). Meanwhile, cook noodles (or rice or quinoa) according to pkg. directions. When done, drain . Remove meat mixture from heat and stir in sour cream and mix well. Add to noodles and mix till well blended.

We topped the quinoa with stroganoff, though you can mix if you want. One of my sisters did not like this recipe at all, but everyone else thought it was okay. I liked it, and my son ate some, though he complained and picked out all the mushrooms. So, for a picky eater, maybe not.

Recipe: 4 of 4 spoons.

Clear instructions, very easy.
Product: 3 of 4 spoons. Tasty enough. I'd make it again, though my family isn't a big fan.