How to Make Beef Stroganoff

In this instructable I'll share my beef stroganoff recipe. It's a mixture of my gramma's recipe and the classic recipe in Joy of Cooking - plus a couple of tweaks. :D

This recipe will serve 2-3 people and is easy to double or triple!

As far as food, you'll need:

• one pound of beef (I prefer buying it in larger chunks and cutting it myself!)
• one onion
• four cloves of garlic (less or more if you like!)
• thyme
• 1 cup sour cream
• a few tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of mustard (I used yellow because it's what I had on hand. It's even tastier with Dijon!)
• 1 1/2 cups of beef broth (I always go with no sodium beef broth)
• salt and pepper
• egg noodles

As far as tools:

• a large skillet
• a large pot with a lid to cook the noodles in (I used a stock pot)
• a colander
• standard kitchen tools: knife, spoons, etc. :)

You might notice I don't put mushrooms into my stroganoff - that's because I've never liked them. ;)

However, you can add them in and I'll tell you when!

If your stove is anything like mine, the water will take a while to boil. This way, it'll be boiling around the time everything starts coming together!

You'll want to use quite a bit of water - in my case, I filled the stock pot about halfway. This will give the pasta room to move as it cooks and keep it from sticking.

Add a couple of generous pinches of salt to season the water. :D

Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and let it hang out in the colander until the sauce is done!

You'll want to mince the garlic. To make this easier, place the cloves under the flat side of the knife blade and smack the blade with the palm of your hand. This will help you clean the papery skin from the clove easily and also smash the garlic.

Dice the onion. Chop away! Don't try to be too exact unless you're cooking for someone that hates chunky onions. ;)

Slice the meat into 1 to 1/2 inch chunks. Make sure to cut against the grain!

And now we can begin cooking!

Add about a tablespoon of olive oil to your pan. Put the pan over medium heat.

Once it's nice and hot (see the oil shimmering?) add the meat. At this point, add a little salt and pepper as it cooks.

Cooking will take only a few minutes, so stay with it. You'll want to keep the meat moving and only cook it until you can't see any pink. Then, scoop the meat and all of the juices from the pan and onto a plate to rest while you do the rest of the cooking. :)

You'll want to add a bit more olive oil to the pan to ease this along. We're still cooking on medium heat, here. :)

You want to cook the onions first - this will take a few minutes. Stir them every now and then to keep them from browning. After a few minutes, you should see them becoming golden, soft and translucent.

(If you want to add mushrooms - add them now! Let them cook for a couple minutes before you add the garlic!)

This is your cue to add the garlic!

Stir the garlic around for about a minute, making sure to keep it from burning!

Now, add 1 1/2 cups of beef stock to the pan. You'll also want to add a large pinch of thyme at this point!

Lower the heat and let this simmer for about 8-10 minutes. This will help soften the onions and garlic and the liquid will reduce during this time.

Add one cup of sour cream and about a tablespoon of mustard to the pan. You'll need to mix this thoroughly - it'll take a couple minutes to get all the lumps out. :D

Let this simmer for a couple minutes.

Hopefully your pasta was ready at a good time for you. Mine ended up sitting in the sink for a few minutes while everything thickened, and that's okay! The pasta will rehydrate in the sauce.

You need to make sure you get all of the resting juices into the sauce.

Once the noodles and beef are added, mix thoroughly and simmer until the beef is heated through. Then, do a little dance while you eat!

And now, food porn! :D