Beef Stroganoff

This was so good- this is my mom's recipe for Beef Stroganoff.  I asked her to Email it to me a few years ago (almost exactly 7 years ago!!), and she did, but for some reason I never got around to making it until earlier this week.  I loved it when she used to make it when I was younger, and I love it now!  I adapted this for the slow cooker, and it worked beautifully.  (Note: pic above featured with homemade Spaetzle.)

One weird thing; I'm not a huge mushroom fan, so I left them out.  It is still considered stroganoff without mushrooms?!  I'm not sure, but by all means, add them in if you want!  The whole family loved this.  My little 4-year old meat eater was literally slurping it down; he had like 3 servings or something.  The kids even ignored the broccoli in favor of this, and they actually really love broccoli!  (So that meant me and my husband had to eat it all, since it's not really good as leftovers.  Broccoli overload!!)  The recipe calls for 2 cups of sour cream, but I only added one cup.  Then I added another large spoonful to make it a little thicker.  My mom says that doing this in the crock-pot will just make it a little more thin than doing it on the stove top.  I loved the ease of doing this in the crock pot; I made it at around noon, stuck it in there, and when I got back from the gym, just boiled a package of noodles, steamed broccoli, and stirred in the sour cream.

My store is famously out of meat all the time, or they only have a little bit, or weird cuts of meat.  They did not have any round steak the day I wanted to make this, but they DID have cut-up stir fry meat.  It was actually perfect!!  It was some kind of beef (maybe round steak...) cut into thin strips, which is what we want here, anyway!

Beef Stroganoff

from my mom  

1/2 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 to 2 pounds round steak, trimmed and cut into thin strips (stir fry meat works well!)

3 tablespoons butter

1 cup chopped onion

1 garlic clove, minced

2 cans (10 1/2 ounces) condensed beef broth

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard (I used wet mustard here, ha ha)

3 tablespoons tomato chili sauce
1 teaspoon Worcester sauce

1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced (optional)

1-2 cups sour cream (8-16 ounces) (add to taste)

Cooked noodles

Chopped fresh parsley 

Stovetop:

1.  Combine flour, salt, pepper and paprika in a plastic bag. Shake beef strips in bag until well coated.  (I just combined in a bowl).  

2.  In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Brown half the beef at a time. Remove. Add onion and garlic; cook until tender. Return beef to the skillet. Add broth, mustard, chili sauce and mushrooms, if using; cover and simmer until the beef is tender, about 1 hour. Just before serving, stir in sour cream. Heat gently but do not boil. Serve immediately over noodles. Garnish with chopped parsley. Yield: 6-8 servings 

Slow Cooker:  

1.  Combine flour, salt, pepper and paprika in a plastic bag. Shake beef strips in bag until well coated.  (I just combined in a bowl).  

2.  In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Brown half the beef at a time. Dump into slow cooker . Add onion and garlic; cook until tender (I cooked onion & garlic with the second batch of beef).  Deglaze the pan and stir up all the bits with one can of broth; add to slow cooker.  To the slow cooker, add other broth, mustard, chili sauce and mushrooms, if using; cover and cook until the beef is tender-4-5 hours on high, or 6-8 hours on low. (I did about 4 hours on High, and then 1 hour on low.)  Stir occasionally.  Just before serving, stir in sour cream.  Serve immediately over noodles. Garnish with chopped parsley. Yield: 6-8 servings
*Note: To thicken the mixture in the slow cooker, after adding the sour cream, leave the slow cooker lid off.  It will thicken better this way.

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