Ground Beef Stroganoff

This is definitely a middle of the week sort of meal. We usually have mushrooms in the fridge, onions & garlic - well of course those are always around, plus we try to keep a few bags of ground beef from the butcher in the downstairs freezer. The quality is much higher, although it comes in 2lb bags which means lots of leftovers. Not necessarily a bad thing, at least when things turn out ok.

Ground Beef Stroganoff with mushrooms and egg noodles 

I noticed that most recipes, after googling around for a bit, seem to include either mushroom/chicken soup, beef consomme, or beef stock. We have tons of mushroom soup in the cupboard at any given time, but that is reserved for SO's famous "extravaganza" meals. Usually pork chop extravaganza. I prefer to do things a "fresher" way if I have the time, like I did today on a Sunday.  This recipe is similar to Emeril's, since I made up a batch of his "Emeril's Essence", but I omitted his suggestion of beef broth, parsley, and cheddar, and added instead some red wine, half-and-half cream, and sour cream.

Next Time: more mushrooms, maybe another veg

Me: 9/10
SO: 9/10
SSO: n/a, he had noodles and plain ground beef

Ground Beef Stroganoff

I had a big bag of gr. beef, so this made dinner for 2, plus 5 leftover lunches for the freezer.

Ingredients

• 2lbs of lean ground beef
• 1 Tb of Emeril's Essense (see below)
• 2 large cooking onions, diced
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2-3 cups of sliced mushrooms
• generous splash of red wine (maybe 1/3 cup)
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup half-and-half cream, or light, or full-on if you really want
• your favourite egg noodles - I used an entire bag of broad noodles, 375g
• freshly ground salt and pepper

Method

1. Use a large pot, and break up the ground beef . Season with the spices, and cook until no pink left.
2. Meanwhile, start the water boiling for the egg noodles in a second well salted pot.
3. Pour off the juice if too much, and scoop the beef into a large bowl for later.
4. Throw the pasta in for the required amount of time.
5. While the pasta is cooking, splash a bit of oil in the same pot, and cook the onions a couple minutes. Add the garlic, cook another minute.Finally, add the mushrooms for a couple minutes.
6. Add the wine, and scrape any good bits off the bottom.
7. By now the pasta should be done, drain it and add, along with the beef, to the original pot. Stir well, and add the sour cream, and half-and-half. Mix well. Add additional sour cream and/or half-and-half if it looks not "saucy" enough. Heat through, and serve.