Spring is in the air. Most of the cooking magazines have moved well past braises and are into light vegetarian meals, pasta, or roasted spring lamb.
I am just not there yet. This is the time of year I hang onto my winter recipes like a drug addict hanging onto a fix.
My favorite meal this week was Beef Stroganoff. I fell in love with this dish in my 20s when I worked at a place called the “Coffee Tree.” If you lived in California and had occasion to drive Interstate 80 from the Bay Area to Sacramento you may remember it. It had a huge gold roof and it was legendary. It was the kind of place where the staff wore HORRIBLE polyester uniforms straight from the 70′s, just like everything else about the place including the decor and menu. The food was nostalgic and fantastic. People made it a point to stop there during their road trip and many had been stopping there since they were kids. The Coffee Tree is gone now, but I remember it.
Beef Stroganoff at the Coffee Tree was not the traditional recipe. It was thick, rich and full of tomatoes. It was incredible. Every time I’ve tried to make it in the memory of the Coffee Tree I’ve used diced tomatoes as they did and the finished dish has ended up tasting like tin. Too much acid.
This week when I made it I had the best result ever (Or I was really hungry, I’m not sure)
Here’s the recipe:
2T olive oil
1/2 red onion diced
8 oz sliced cremini mushrooms
1 1/2 pounds beef sirloin cut into half inch pieces
2 cloves garlic diced
3T tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
2 cups beef broth
2T softened butter
2T flour
Salt and Pepper to taste
Egg Noodles
Sour Cream
Saute the onions and mushrooms over medium heat until they are caramelized. You want to bring out the flavor here but not burn so be patient. Season them with salt and pepper. Once caramelized, remove from pan and place in a separate bowl.
Bring heat up to medium high and working in batches brown the beef (season in the pan with salt and pepper) Remove from pan and set aside with the mushrooms and onions.
Saute the tomato paste and garlic in the pan. Cook until the tomato paste goes from red to a deep rust color.
Deglaze the pan with the red wine and reduce it by half. Add the beef broth and return the beef, mushrooms and onions to the pan.
Bring to a simmer for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small dish combine the flour and butter until it’s a smooth paste. You want this to have a moment to rest before you need it so do this as soon as you put everything back into the pan.
Add one tablespoon of the flour and butter mixture at a time to the sauce until it’s the thickness you desire. A note here — because the sauce is boiling it will thicken quickly, but you have to let it cook a a little (2 – 3 minutes) to see where you are going to end up. If you over thicken you can add beef broth, wine or water but you’ll end up diluting your flavor. Once you have the thickness you want let it cook for about 5 minutes longer. This is not an exact science this is where your grandma tells you to “cook it until it’s done.” You’ll have to taste the sauce, stir it and decide what your are looking for. I LOVE thickening sauce this way as opposed to starting with a roux because it allows me to instantly see the thickness and avoid over or under thickening but it’s something you have to do and play with to get it right.
Serve over buttered egg noodles (or rice if you prefer) with a garnish of sour cream. A hearty red wine such as a Zinfandel or Cabernet will go great with this meal!
be entertained