When I was a kid I was served beef stroganoff on a fairly regular basis. NO ONE told me it was the middle class version of stretching a dollar. It was pretty good in my opinion, but I was a kid, what did I know? 😀
When I grew up and read the recipe in a “real” cookbook, I was amazed to find that it wasn’t actually made with ground beef LOL 😀
Taking the budget a step farther, my folks used canned mushrooms. I didn’t even know what a FRESH mushroom was until many years later. I will tell you I have NEVER EVER liked canned mushrooms. They also used them in chop suey YUCK!!!!! They also used dehydrated onion and garlic.
This version with REAL veggies and a QUALITY ground beef is really good though. It may not be a great picture, but the flavor made up for it.
BEEF STROGANOFF on a BUDGET
3/4-1 pound QUALITY ground beef
1 cup sliced FRESH mushrooms
1 LARGE shallot, FINELY chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 + 3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons WONDRA flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper to taste
1 cup sour cream
3 cups prepared egg noodles
1/2 cup chopped parsley
- In a large skillet brown the ground beef until crumbly.
- Drain off excess fat and set aside for the moment.
- Melt 1 tablespoon butterin the same skillet.
- Add shallots, garlic and mushrooms, sauteing until soft.
- Remove veggies with a slotted spoon adding to the meat.
- Melt the remaining butter in skillet.
- Whisk in flour salt and pepper, whisking until golden.
- Remove from heat and whisk in milk.
- Add meat and veggies back into skillet.
- Return to heat, reduce heat and cook, constantly stirring until smooth and slightly thickened.
- Fold in sour cream, prepared egg noodles and parsley.
- Serve immediately.