A New Version of an Old Favorite

Growing up, there were about three things Nick would eat: candy, cereal, and beef stroganoff (the Hamburger Helper kind). It was always one of my favorites, too. Who doesn't love mushy, salty, greyish brown slop (well when you put it that way... bleck)? But really, there are some chilly winter days when you just want to eat something warm and salty and hearty, and beef stroganoff lends itself well to warming you up :)

I've been looking around for a good beef stroganoff recipe, and have found some good-looking ones, but I always get a little turned off by the copious amounts of cream of mushroom soup that most of the recipes call for. I think the soup often overpowers the flavor of the meat and makes the stroganoff too salty. So when I found this recipe, I knew I had to try it. And you cook it in a crockpot! How perfect is that??

I modified the recipe a little. Here's how I did it:

1.5 lbs beef stew meat
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
olive oil (use your best judgment on the amount here)
1 small onion, diced
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced (my roommate doesn't love mushrooms so I probably used about half of this)
1/4 tsp rosemary
1 garlic clove, minced
1.5 cups beef broth (the original recipe called for only 1 cup, but I added a bit more)
1 cup sour cream (I just used a large spoonful, probably about 1/2 a cup. Any more than that would've made it taste too sour-creamy)
Egg noodles or brown/white rice to serve it with

• Mix flour, salt, and paprika in a large ziploc bag. Place chunks of beef in the bag and seal. Shake the bag until all chunks of beef are evenly coated
• Fry beef in olive oil in a frying pan until all sides are lightly browned
• Layer onion, mushrooms, rosemary, garlic clove, and fried beef in the crockpot (onion on bottom, beef on top).
• Pour broth over the contents of the crockpot. 
• Cook on high 4-5 hours, or on low for 8 hours.
• Add sour cream in the last ten minutes or so
• Serve over noodles or rice

I cooked mine on high. At four hours I took the lid off to add the sour cream and check on the meat. The beef chunks were falling apart, so no need to worry about cutting them if they seem too big before cooking. I started the brown rice in my rice cooker at four hours also, and let the stroganoff keep cooking while the rice was finishing up, so I guess it cooked for about four and a half hours.

This stroganoff tastes really natural and delicious, although I added a little salt and pepper into my own bowl. Next time I make this I think I'll add an extra teaspoon of salt into the crockpot, and maybe some pepper. The beef chunks tasted a lot like the pot roast my roommate makes, which makes me want to try throwing some carrots and a splash of red wine in next time to make a pot roast slop! I don't know how I'll ever modify this for Jay (who doesn't like onions at all). Slop without onions is not worth eating in my opinion.

I wish I had some pictures for you, but greyish brown slop doesn't photograph very well and I'd hate to turn anyone off from making this recipe. Also, it was so yummy we ate it all before I could even take a picture!