Juicy beef smothered in a creamy mushroom and onion gravy. Beef Stroganoff is a crowd favourite that tastes like a slow cooked stew but is on the table in 30 minutes.
Use your fist (or rolling pin or mallet) to flatten the steaks to about 3/4cm / 1/3" thick. Slice into 5mm / 1/5" strips (cut long ones in half), discarding excess fat.
Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet over high heat. Scatter half the beef in the skillet, QUICKLY spread it with tongs. Leave untouched for 30 seconds until browned. Turn beef quickly (as best you can!). Leave untouched for 30 seconds to brown. Immediately remove onto a plate. Don't worry about pink bits and that it will be raw inside.
Add remaining 1 tbsp oil and repeat with remaining beef.
Turn heat down to medium high. Add butter, melt. Then add onions, cook for 1 minute, then add mushrooms.
Cook mushrooms until golden. Scrape bottom of fry pan to get all the golden bits off (this is flavour!).
Add flour, cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
Add half the broth while stirring. Once incorporated, add remaining broth.
Stir, then add sour cream and mustard. Stir until incorporated (don't worry if it looks split, sour cream will "melt" as it heats).
Bring to simmer ,then reduce heat to medium low. Once it thickens to the consistency of pouring cream (3 - 5 minutes), adjust salt and pepper to taste.
Add beef back in (including plate juices). Simmer for 1 minute, then remove from stove immediately.
Serve over pasta or eggnoodles, sprinkled with chives if desired.
600 g / 1.2 lb scotch fillet steak (boneless ribeye)
2 tbsp vegetable oil , divided
1 large onion (or 2 small onions), sliced
300 g / 10 oz mushrooms , sliced (not too thin)
40 g / 3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2 cups / 500 ml beef broth , preferably salt reduced
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
150 ml / 2/3 cup sour cream
Salt and pepper
Chopped chives , for garnish (optional)
250 - 300 g / 8 - 10 oz pasta or egg noodles of choice
Stroganoff is best made with a decent to good quality quick cooking cut of beef because the dish is cooked quickly. I used 2 x beef scotch fillets (aka boneless rib eye) which is pretty well marbled with fat and you can find reasonably priced ones at butchers and supermarkets. Sirloin, rump and any other steak for BBQ-ing is suitable, except I don't recommend skirt, flat iron and cuts like that which need to be virtually rare to be juicy and usually work best when marinated. Tenderloin is also suitable BUT it is leaner.
Any wheat flour is fine here, I use plain white flour (all purpose). Or use 1 tbsp cornstarch / cornflour (makes it Gluten Free).
I like serving this with short, curly pasta. I like it best with short pastas, rather than long pastas. It's also great with mashed potato, rice, polenta - anything that's suitable to slop up all that gravy!
Sauce thickness: You can make sauce thinner with touch of water if you want, but DO NOT keep simmering to thicken once the beef is added, it will overcook the beef.
KEY STEPS in this recipe: brown very quickly so the beef is still raw inside, then finish cooking through in the gravy. The more colour you can get on the beef in 30 seconds on each side = more flavour in the end result. Do not worry about pink bits remaining on some of the beef after the sear and that it's raw inside - it is more important to get the beef out of the skillet after 60 seconds! The other key steps is to use a LARGE SKILLET. Key for beef browning / fast sauce reduction.
Nutrition per serving, assuming 5 servings (serves 4 hearty servings or 5 sensible servings), excludes pasta.
TAGS: Easy beef recipe
