Kinda-Sorta Stroganoff - Easy













I've been visiting theDaughter this past week.  As long as I'm here freeloading, I made myself useful and cooked some of the dinners. Figuring that there must be at least a couple of recipes on the blog that would please her and theFiance, I asked what they wanted.

"Mom, can you make stroganoff?" theDaughter requested.   Isn't that sweet?  She asked for a comfort food I've been making since she was a toddler.  Of course, it's a recipe I hadn't gotten around to posting and couldn't remember the exact ingredients.

Originally from a La Leche League cookbook, it is stroganoff in name only.  It is more like  sloppy joe, but without green pepper, and served over noodles instead of a bun.  I've made "real" stroganoff (if you can call it that when made with pretend "sour cream"), but whenever someone in the house asks for stroganoff, this is the version he/she is craving.

Except it fell off the rotation after no one asked for it in years.  So I had to call theHubby back home, who read off the ingredients list, which I didn't bother to write down since, after all, there were only a few ingredients.

In retrospect, that was probably a bad idea, since as soon as I hung up the phone I immediately forgot the quantities.  The quantites are all guesstimates which came out good anyway.  Feel free to tweak any ingredient to suit your own brood.

The photography for today's post is brought to you courtesy of theDaughter and her fancy-schmancy camera that weights about 50 pounds with the zoom lens.












Except for this gratuitous photo I took of an orchid we purchased at the SoCal version of the Try-n-Save.

As I whipped up a batch o'stroganoff, I realized that over the years I made adjustments to the original, but didn't bother writing any of it down since I made it so often, way back when.  Such as using real onion as per the original instead of bullion, even though the recipe felt "wrong" during the cooking process and didn't realize until later that bullion was used. Real onion, turns out (and write this down, Dear Reader) really does taste better.  But if you are cooking with one kid on your hip or you simply prefer an easy version, go with the bullion.  I bet your kids, especially the one who picks out all the real onion bits, will thank you.

Kinda-Sorta Stroganoff - Easy
Adapted from: Whole Foods for the Whole Family
Makes 4 servings

1 bag (12-16 ozs.) wide or spiral noodles
1 medium onion (or 2 preferably 2 tsp. onion bullion powder)
2 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. chopped garlic (bottled okay)
1 lb. package of ground beef
1/3 cup ketchup

Boil a large pot of water and cook noodles according to package directions.

Meanwhile, dice onion.  If using bullion, set it aside for later.













Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.  When hot, add oil.











After heating the oil about 10 seconds,  add onion.  Cook onion, stirring frequently ...












... until they are are soft and translucent (about 6-8 minutes).












Add a massive amount of garlic and stir it around for a minute.












Push onion mixture to sides, then plop in ground beef.  Use a wooden spoon or spatula to break up the beef.  Continue cooking mixure, stirring occasionally, until no pink remains.

Look upon all the icky grease that oozes out with a bit of disgust.  I would have shown you a photo, but I forgot to upload it and it's a ganseh megilah to go through the procedure again on theFiance's Mac, so you will have to use your imagination. Drain said icky grease, then return skillet to heat.












Stir in ketchup (and reserved bullion powder, if using).  Ignore the amount in the photo; more ketchup was added off-camera.  Also ignore theDaughter's manicure.  It's supposed to look like that.













Divide noodles among 4 dinner plates.  Top with stroganoff mixture.  Serve hot.

Comments

  1. I took *all* the pictures. Including the flower one. Your picture of the flower was quite blurry. So there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I sit corrected. You read the blog! Yay! :D

    ReplyDelete

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