Beef Stroganoff
Ingredients
1½ lbs. filet mignon*
2T flour
1½t smoked paprika
½t salt (or more to preference)
½t black pepper
canola oil
½C heavy cream½C creme fraiche**1½t Worcestershire sauce1½t Dijon mustard
4-6T butter
1 lb. portobello mushroom, sliced or quartered***
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1 12oz bag Mueller's extra wide egg noodles
¼C dry white wine
Chopped fresh parsely - don't skip this step!****
Directions
1. Trim all visible fat from filets. Cut into thin strips (about 1/3 inch wide) and then cut strips into bite size pieces - no more than 2 inches - whatever you prefer to have on your plate. Mix the flour and the spices together. Toss all the beef in the flour mixture (I like the Zip-loc shake-and-bake method), then shake off all excess flour.
2. Pre-boil your water to cook the noodles. If it starts to boil too early, just turn it off and put a lid on it. Cook the noodles at any point during the cooking process that is convenient. Toss with a few tablespoons of butter and set aside.
3. Gently stir together heavy creme, creme fraiche, Worcestershire and Dijon. Set aside.
4. Heat oil in a large pan and sear beef quickly (like 60-90 seconds or so) - you want it to still be raw inside (unless you prefer to end up with well done beef, which is fine, if that's you're thing). If you don't have a large enough pan you can do it in batches. Put all the semi cooked beef in a small bowl and cover with foil to keep warm.
5. Put some butter in the same pan and cook all the mushrooms until they have released their juices and browned and cooked down. Add more butter and the shallots. Continue cooking on low - this might be a good time to cook your pasta.
6. Make sure the shallots have softened/caramelized. Deglaze pan with white wine. Reduce wine by half, then add the cream mixture and let that simmer on low and slightly thicken.
7. Add the beef and all accumulated juices to the pan, turn up the heat and toss everything to coat for a few seconds. Put a lid on the pan, turn off the heat, and let the beef slightly cook a bit more from the residual heat. Again - if you like your beef more cooked, just keep the heat on a bit longer.
8. Serve the beef on top of the noodles and sprinkle generously with parsely. I also like to add extra salt and pepper on my own plate.
Notes
* I don't eat beef very often, so when I do, I like the best cut. You could certainly use whatever cut you like, but it won't be as spectatcular a dish.
** I read somewhere that regular sour cream will curdle and that creme fraiche is a better choice. I don't know if that's true or not.
*** You can use any kind of mushroom you want, and you can chunk or slice them however you like. I prefer chunks to slices because it distinguishes them from the beef.
**** I once felt lazy and skipped the "garnish" - but seriously, this is an important part of the flavor palate.
Credits: This recipe was inspired by (and extremely similar to) Sam Sifton's take on Beef Strganoff from NYT Cooking. If you have a subscription the above link should take you to the recipe. If you don't, it will probably take you to a page where you can subscribe if you would like. I highly recommend subscribing!
Tags: beef
Original Post Date: 2021