Mind-Blowing Beef in Lemon Wine Sauce with Capers

It's Passover this week, which to many most people means two choices:  meals served on matzoh, or meals with matzoh mixed in.  Nuh-uh, not in my house.   Here is an example of the kind of meals my family enjoy.  Ground beef, sauteed with mushrooms and other yummy add-ins, served over Passover-friendly spiral noodles made of potato and tapioca starches.  Perfect even if you don't celebrate Passover, but happen to have gluten issues.   A bit of wine reduction (which sounds fancy-schmancy, but really takes more time to say than to do) gives the flavor a grown-up kick.

The interesting thing about this recipe is that it came about totally by accident.

I use and reuse a Passover menu, tinkered with only slightly each year.   Like this recipe I've made since the kids were young, ground beef pretty much drowned in pasta sauce and slopped over noodles.  Tastes better than it sounds, but now the kids are grown and theHubby no longer eats tomato-based anything.  So about a month or so ago I updated the menu, changing "pasta sauce" to "lemon sauce" but without any explanation or recipe.  Fast-forward to tonight, when I wasn't sure exactly what I was even thinking about.  Probably the Lemon Ugly Sauce.  But after two heavy Seders followed by today's lunch of corned beef and eggs, I really didn't want to look another egg in the eye.  So I tinkered with the sauce a tad, omitting the eggs and adding capers along with some mushrooms left over from salad the other day.  Turned out to be a winning combination!


Beef in Lemon Wine Sauce with Capers
Yield:  4 servings

1 Tbl. olive oil
1 lb. ground beef
4 large mushrooms, cleaned and thinly sliced
1/2  cup dry white wine
couple strips lemon peel
1 Tbl. capers, well drained
3/4 cup chicken broth (can substitute with Passover/gluten-free bouillon)
2 tsp. potato (or tapioca) starch
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1 (9 oz.) bag Passover/gluten-free spiral noodles, cooked according to package directions
leaves from a couple sprigs parsley, coarsely chopped (for garnish)

Heat olive oil in a large skillet/frying pan over medium heat.  When oil is shimmering, add ground beef.  Stir, breaking up meat, until beef is no longer pink.

Carefully drain off accumulated grease, then return skillet to cooktop.  Add sliced mushrooms; saute until mushroom just start to reduce.

Add wine and strips of lemon peel. Continue to saute until wine is reduced by half (about 2-3 minutes).  Stir in capers.

Meanwhile, whisk together the broth with the potato (or tapioca) starch, salt and pepper in a small bowl.

Slowly pour broth mixture into beef.  Stir until sauce thickens, which should take no more than a minute.

Remove skillet from heat.  Stir in lemon juice.

Divide cooked noodles among four pasta plates.  Top evenly with the beef mixture.

Garnish with parsley, if desired.  Serve immediately.