Recipe Review: Beef Stroganoff

I grew up with my mother making beef stroganoff, but the hamburger helper kind. Never homemade. Recently, I had been craving it and with this assignment I decided to make it, but homemade! I am not a recipe follower type cook, I usually get wing it when I'm in the kitchen, but I love a challenge. Following recipes are difficult for me, only because I feel like mine won't turn out as good and then I'll have to end up going to get Whataburger for dinner. Luckily, the recipe I chose was super easy to follow and understand.

Once I found the recipe and decided I was going to attempt it, I read "The broth does not need to fully cover the noodles for them to cook, so resist the urge to add extra water or broth." Every time I have ever cooked noodles, they had to be submerged under boiling hot water. I was nervous about my noodles not being fully cooked and then they ruin the dish. I had never cooked with Worcestershire sauce or dijon mustard until today, nor have I eaten them before. I didn't know if they would have a strong smell, but they weren't too strong.

I didn't need many ingredients for this meal, which is always a win for a week day dinner. I ran to my local HEB and picked up dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, beef broth, egg noodles, parsley, and garlic. The recipe called for two cloves of garlic, but HEB has chopped garlic cloves so I got those. It also calls for mushrooms, but nobody in my household likes mushrooms, including me. So, no mushrooms in this beef stroganoff! (Not pictured is ground beef and sour cream because I already had some at home and the beef was thawing out.)

I cook about six days a week, so going into cooking this dinner I felt 70% confident. I never follow a recipe so this was different for me, but I was going to follow exactly what the recipe says. 

I started with putting butter and garlic into a pan on medium heat for about a minute. Then I put the ground beef into the pan to start cooking; I seasoned it with some pepper and a little bit of salt. Once the ground beef was cooked, I added in the beef broth, dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce and egg noodles. Then I covered it with the lid. This was the part I was most nervous about, I usually overcook my noodles on accident so I kept a very close eye on them. The recipe says to let them cook 7-10 minutes and stir every couple minutes. After about 7 minutes I tried a noodle, and it was not ready. But I noticed that the beef broth had absorbed very quickly and it looked dry. I tried my best to fight that urge to add more broth, but I had to do it! I add about another half a cup of the broth and put the lid back on to allow them to finish cooking. 

Once the noodles were al dente, I turned off the burner and added 1/3 cup of sour cream. The recipe says it'll make the dish more creamy, although I did find sour cream to be an odd choice. But I chose to trust the process. I mixed that around and then added the parsley on top, and then it was complete!

It looks even better than my moms, sorry mom! The dish looked better than what I remember and the smell took me back to my childhood. The noodles were cooked perfectly, the beef isn't overcooked, and the sauce works so well together. You can get a whiff of the mixture of the dijon mustard and the Worcestershire sauce. The sour cream at the end really changed the texture of the dish. After adding the sour cream, it became so much more creamy looking and it just mixed together better. 

I tasted it and it was PERFECT! I am so thrilled I trusted my gut and added more beef broth. I truly because it wouldn't have tasted as good if I didn't. The dish had absorbed the liquid too fast, but once I added more broth, it was perfect. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but it really was a 10/10 meal. It was creamy, flavorful, savory, and comforting. 

I cooked enough for my grandmother, partner, my son, and myself. They all said it was very good, and it was seasoned perfectly. My son is seventeen months and told us he wanted more, so he got seconds! That's a win!

I grew up with this meal, but from a box, and I found a recipe that taught me how to make it homemade and still remind me of my childhood. I cannot believe how easy it was to make, and my toddler loved it! The ingredients didn't cost much, the prep and cook time took less than 45 minutes, and the clean up time was one pan and a few utensils. Easy! When I make beef stroganoff again, I would add more broth, no mushrooms, but maybe add some peas or broccoli for some veggies in the dish. 

10/10 recipe!

10/10 instructions!

Give it a try!

Beef Stroganoff