Beef Stroganoff 2.0

On a rainy, overcast day my body wanted some warm comfort food. Recently my kitchen has produced some great cold-weather meals including Chili, Guinness Beef Stew and Irish Fish Soup.

Tonight I had a hankering for a classic comfort food that I haven’t made in years. Because I’m me…I wanted to elevate the traditional Beef Stroganoff. A bit. My version includes bacon, lots of white wine, tomato paste and a yet-to-be named processed cheese food.

This whole meal was prepared in my 16″ iron skillet.

First step was bacon. I had some in my freezer. So with a little olive oil , I cooked about 4 strips, cut in half. Put the bacon on some paper towel on the side. To the bacon drippings I added a thin-sliced sirloin (placed in the freezer while the bacon cooked to firm it up a bit). While it cooked, I dusted the top side with about 1/2 cup of seasoned flour. After a bit I flipped them, finished browning and removed the beef to a plate, keeping the bits in the pan.

I added some olive oil and put in a sliced onion. I didn’t caramelize it completely, because I like the crunch of an onion when eating stroganoff.

With the onions in the pan, I deglazed the skillet with some white wine. In this case I had an open bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, so I used about a cup. I used the tip of a metal spoon to scrape up the bits on the bottom.

While this cooked down, I sliced up several portabello mushrooms and diced three garlic cloves. I added these to the skillet with another cup of the white wine and cooked this mixture for a couple minutes.

I added two heaping spoons of tomato paste and a couple tablespoons of Worcester sauce and stirred it in, cooking for a few more minutes.

Meanwhile I chopped up some Italian parsley (still going strong in my garden) and…(this is COMPLETELY optional) a few thin slices of Velveeta cheese. I don’t know why this occurred to me in the store, I was getting some sour cream and I saw this and said “hmmm, just a hint could really make it sweet and creamy.”

So with the egg noodles beginning to boil, I tempered a cup of sour cream with some of the sauce, added the chopped parley and the slices of cheese (if we are allowed to call it cheese).

Once melded, serve on a bed of egg noodles, top with chopped chives, chopped green onions and chopped parsley.

On the side, I had some air-fried carrots. I coated these with olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, dried basil and a hint of kosher salt. They air-fried at 370° in 10 minutes, the same time it took for the boiling egg noodles to cook. They were nice and crunchy. For softer, you could cook for 12 minutes.

The meal was exactly what I needed. I’m now covered for lunches for the rest of the week.