For the next few days I'm working only 1 shift out of every three. (I work Monday AM, Tuesday PM, Thursday AM and Friday PM.) This give's me 24 hours between shifts before I have to be back to work and it gives me plenty of time to play in the kitchen. So I've decided to try some recipes I’ve always loved, but am not usually able to cook.
On Monday night, I made Beef Stroganoff. (Oh, boy do I love Stroganoff!) I’ve never made it from scratch before and it came out beautifully flavor-wise. Unfortunately, it didn’t look so great, so I’m going to try again, but this time with Portabella Mushrooms in place of the Beef. (I have a co-worker who is vegetarian and she really wants me to make some food for her, but without meat. I, being an omnivore-leaning-toward-complete-carnivore, usually make my recipes with some kind of meat in them, so I told her I’d try to make something for her.)
Because this recipe didn’t come out looking so great, I’m not going to post any pictures of it, but I will post pics of the Portabella Stroganoff when it's done. I know why this one didn’t turn out so great visually, but I think I can fix it!
While my Stroganoff was cooking, I was suddenly filled with self-doubt and decided to throw a Beef Pot Roast in the crock-pot, just in case my Stroganoff was completely inedible. So, into the crock-pot went chunked new potatoes, Bold onions and Baby Bella mushrooms. (I was already chopping the onions and mushrooms for the Stroganoff, so this worked out well.)
Pot Roast has to be one of the easiest recipes in the world to make, especially if you use a crock-pot. Here are the directions:
Ingredients:
2 lb. beef pot roast (almost any cut of meat will work, but probably something with a little fat on it)
1 lb potatoes, chunked up (if you use new potatoes, don’t cut them up at all)
1 med. onion, chunked up (or 2-3 small onions)
4-5 oz of mushroom caps (you can used canned mushrooms, but you want chunks, not slices)
(You can also add carrots, bell peppers, squash/zucchini, etc, but you really want to use fresh veggies if you have them. If you use frozen or canned, they will get extremely mushy by the time the roast is done.)
Directions:
1.) Chunk up the onion, potatoes and mushrooms and any other vegetables you are using. Pieces should be about no smaller than the 1st joint of your thumb. They will all cook down a good ways, so don’t panic if they look too big. Toss these all in the pot. If you’re using canned mushrooms, put the can juices in as well.
2.) Rinse the beef pot roast and sprinkle with some salt, pepper, and any spices you want in your roast. (I grabbed some Cavender’s Greek Seasoning and used it as a “dry rub”.) Put this on top of the veggies.
3.) Set the crock-pot to 250° if a temp is an option. Otherwise, set it to medium and leave it alone for about 4 hours.
NOTE: Your roast will be done in about 4 hours. If you want it to really fall apart, use a cut of meat that has more fat in it (just drain the fat off when you’re done). If you want it to be more solid, then you’ll use a leaner cut of meat, but you won’t have any juice when you’re done and you may need to add some fluid to the pot to keep the veggies from sticking. If you have any juice left, pour it off and refrigerate it. Once any fat has solidified to the top, scrape it off and discard it and put the rest in the freezer to use as soup stock later.
Now, on to the Stroganoff!!
I used this recipe from AllRecipes.com, as a base to figure out what I would need to do to create a really good Stroganoff. After reading through the recipe and many of the comments, I thought I had a pretty good idea of how to make this.
Here is the recipe I used/created:
Ingredients:
2 lbs of London Broil, sliced into 3/4" by 2" pieces
4 small Bold onions, cut into quarters, divided
1-1/2 Tbsp garlic powder (Fresh garlic, use an entire head, or 2 Tbsp chopped garlic in the jar)
Dash of lemon juice
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
4 oz of Baby Bella mushroom caps
6 Tbsp of butter, divided
10-12 oz water*
1 Tbsp of beef bullion crystals*
1 tsp mustard powder
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Xantham gum powder
1/3 cup sour cream (NOT low fat!)
1/3 cup cream cheese (NOT low fat!)
*You can replace the water and bullion with the same amount of beef stock
Directions:
1.) Put the beef, 1 chopped onion, garlic, lemon juice and vinegar in a bag to marinade at least 2 hours. (I let mine marinade for about 24 hours, since I prepped on Sunday night but ran out of time to complete the recipe.)
2.) Quickly saute the marinaded beef and onions in a large skillet using 4 Tbsp of butter (reserve the liquid from the marinade). When the beef is brown, set it aside and put the 3 chopped unions in the skillet to brown. As they finish, put in the remaining 2 Tbsp of butter and toss in the mushrooms to brown. The onions will caramelize a bit. Cook the mushrooms and onions together until the mushrooms start to release their liquid, set aside the mushrooms and onions with the beef. Pour about 1/2 cup of water in pan to deglaze it. Slowly add the remainder of the beef stock to the pan letting if come to a simmer. Add the mustard powder and Worcestershire sauce. Once it is all blended, begin adding xantham gum powder in small amounts, stirring continuously until sauce begins to thicken. (This will happen very quickly, so keep a close eye on it. If it gets too thick, just add some water to the pan.)
3.) Add the beef, onions and mushrooms back into the sauce and let it continue to simmer until the beef is cooked through and is tender (about 30 min.)
4.) Here is where I made my mistake! Once beef is cooked through REMOVE THE PAN FROM HEAT. Take the sour cream and cream cheese and melt them together over low heat or in the microwave until they are smooth and more liquid than solid. Stir them into the sauce slowly in small amounts until they are completely blended.
5.) Serve over rice or noodles (or just eat it by the spoonful, your choice!)
This will serve 6-8 people.
To make this dish with Portabella mushrooms, just replace the word "beef" with "portabellas" and don't worry about browning them separately from the rest of the mushrooms and onions, just toss them all in together. You also only want to marinade them for about 2 hours. They won't get any more "tender" or pick up any additional flavor if you let them sit longer.
If you try this, please comment to let me know how it came out!
