It sounds so fancy right? I hear the name Stroganoff and picture dinners at the Winter Palace, people bedecked in furs and opulence and all the finery of the Romanov Dynasty. But people, let me promise you… this is probably one of the most unfancy, easy dinners you’ll ever make. 
My mother-in-law first made this for me a few years ago, touting it as the easiest thing to make and my husband’s favorite. I BEGGED her for the recipe and once I got it? It was promptly lost in a sea of papers here at our house. If you’ve ever seen how tidy and organized our house is *wink wink* you’d be shocked. Instead of calling to bother her for it again, I decided to put it together from what I remembered… and what I could glean from the various recipes from the internet. (Little did I know there were a million and one ways to make Stroganoff.)
So I tinkered and I tailored and I came up with this recipe that is SO DAMN GOOD… but to be honest, if I compared it to my mother -in-laws, is probably exactly the same. She was right. A few quality ingredients are really all you need to make a delicious, creamy, rich Beef Stroganoff.
And word to the wise… you guys KNOW that I don’t care about calorie count at all, and while I don’t exactly fry everything like Paula Deen, I also don’t scrimp when it comes to using butter and real ingredients. This recipe is NOT lowfat, but eat it in moderation and you should be fine.
Of course I was eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner the next day and pretty much drinking the sauce, so I guess my moderation was out the window. It was just.that.good.
Beef Stroganoff
Ingredients
1.5 pounds of Meat – That’s specific, right? So I used chuck, because that’s what I had in the freezer and it worked out beautifully. I have heard of people also using tenderloin, round steak and top sirloin. You just want a cut that’s going to be tender when sliced up, but also that isn’t super expensive. After all, you’re covering it with sauce…
1 Onion, diced
1 clove of Garlic, minced
1/2 pound Mushrooms, sliced
5-6 TB of Butter – I know this sounds like a lot. But you have to brown the meat AND the mushrooms in it and you don’t want to scrimp. Be generous and don’t think about it.
1/4 White Wine – I eyeballed this, so if it looks like it might need more liquid, add more. It cooks out so you really can’t have too much of a good thing.
1 cup Beef Broth
2 TB of Flour
Water
1 cup Greek Yogurt – I used 2% because it’s what we had and I didn’t notice a difference. After all, when paired with a million pounds of butter…
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1 package prepared Egg Noodles
Directions
Slice the meat into long thin strips and season with salt and pepper. Melt 2-3 TB of butter into a large saute pan, with the heat on medium-high. You want it to get hot enough to brown the meat, but make sure that you don’t burn the butter!!
Brown the meat, making sure not to crowd the pan. If you have to, brown it in batches so as to get a nice brown color, as opposed to steamed meat. (<– You guys know how much I hate that) Once all the meat is browned, remove from pan and put the diced onions in. About half way through the cooking process, add the garlic. You don’t want it to burn! Cook the onions until they are nice and soft, seasoning with a little salt and pepper as you go.
Once finished, remove onions and add the rest of your butter. Again, be generous. Mushrooms browned in butter have to be the most beautiful and delicious thing ever, so don’t scrimp. As before, don’t crowd the pan. If you have to do your mushrooms in batches, so be it.
Once the mushrooms are browned, add the wine and beef broth into the pan along with the meat and onions. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer.
Make a paste of the flour and water, then add to the pan. This will thicken up your sauce. Now, here, consistency is key. You want the sauce to be like gravy, so that it coats every noodle with the deliciousness of butter and mushrooms and onions and wine and… oh my. It took me about 15 minutes on low heat to get it to the consistency I wanted.
Once it has thickened up, remove the pan from the heat and let cool for a few minutes. If you put the yogurt in too soon, the heat will cause it to separate and while it will still taste divine… it will look terrible!!
Add in the Greek yogurt and stir well to combine. Serve over a bed of egg noodles.
