A Family Flashback

Before we talk about things I've cooked...the weeone and I are happily back in our little abode! The floors are refinished and beautiful and *almost* all of the boxes are unpacked...maybe, just maybe, my lazy arse will get to wrapping that up this weekend!  In the meantime, we've eaten Mexican, Chinese, Sandwiches, Mac and Cheese...yep - all from restaurants!  Oh, wait - I made soup the other night, so I've, um, er....cooked!  Oh well - here's a meal from last week -----

There are about six meals that immediately take me back to my childhood.  Last week, I decided to pull out one of those for dinner.  It's no accident that Beef Stroganoff is one of my father's favorites and I had been imposing on my parent's hospitality for a little over a week.  Just seemed like the right thing to do.

Now, I don't have the recipe my mom used when we were kids and I've only made Beef Stroganoff a few times in my life, but I looked over a few recipe options and blended a few of them together to come up with what I think was a tasty and pretty healthy meal.

I started by slicing a 1 lb sirloin against the grain into about 1/4" thick slices and then sauteeing it until it was all nice and brown.

Once the meat was brown on all sides, I pulled it off the heat, and dumped it into a bowl.  To the hot pan of beef juices, I added diced onion and a bunch of sliced mushrooms.  Now, I've got to say that I generally don't eat fungus.  It's a known fact among family and friends, however, in beef strokin'-off (as my friend Ashley calls it and makes me giggle) mushrooms are heaven.  I don't know why....maybe I need a shrink.

Cook the mushrooms for 10 minutes or so until they're nice and soft and then dump them in that bowl over there with the beef.   Now your hot pan is empty again!  Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in it and then add a couple of tablespoons of flour....you know...make a roux, it's what we do!  Once that's good and blended, I slowly added about 1 1/2-2 cups of beef broth, whisking the whole time so you don't get icky lumps.

 If the weeone hovers over you watching closely to see if you secretly add any ingredients she would otherwise not eat, it will not speed up the process!

Now, once I cooked the "sauce" down for several minutes allowing it to thicken, I added the beef, onions and mushrooms, stirring to get them all hot and bothered again.  To that I added some sherry followed by sour cream, stirring until it was the perfect consistency and color.

While all this is going on, you'll need to cook either some rice or egg noodles to pour all the yumminess over...but that's really all there is to it!

Voila!  Dinner is served....

Beef Stroganoff

Serves 4-6

• 1  pound  boneless sirloin steak, trimmed
• Cooking spray
• 8 ounces mushrooms 
• 3/4  cup  chopped onion
• 1  tablespoon  butter
• 2  tablespoons  all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2  cup  fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
• 1/4  cup  dry sherry
• 3/4  cup  reduced-fat sour cream
• 4  cups  hot cooked egg noodles 
• Fresh parsley sprigs (optional)

Slice the sirloin against the grain into 1/4 inch thick slices that are no more than 2 inches long.  Over medium high heat, brown the beef on all sides.  Set the meat aside.  In the same pan, sautee the diced onions and mushrooms for about 7-10 minutes or until the onions are transluscent and the mushrooms are soft.  Set the mushroom mixture aside with the beef.  Melt the butter over medium heat and whisk in the flour until the mixure is smooth.  Slowly add the beef broth, stirring the whole time to incorporate it without lumps.  Simmer for several minutes until the sauce thickens.  Add the beef and mushroom mixture back into the sauce as well as the sherry and sour cream, mixing and heating everything through.  

Serve over hot egg noodles.

Nutritional Information:

Calories: 352, Fat: 11.7g (sat 5.3g, mono 3.9g, poly 1g), Fiber: 1.8g, Cholesterol: 87mg, Iron: 3.1mg, Sodium: 355mg, Calcium: 40mg