My daughter can’t say magazine. No matter how hard she tries, it comes out mazagine. And honestly, I don’t try to correct her and hope it’s several years before she finally manages to swap out those two consonants and get them in the correct order.
I revel in those little kid words. Even though she knows how to say spaghetti, when her guard is let down, Dudette inevitably request basketti.
Those few have stuck around, but many of the best ones are gone. Elevators are no longer alligators. Neither are are elephants affluants.
It’s easy for me to remember some of the words I had trouble with as a child because my father still uses them. It’s very interesting to listen to this French-accented, 85 year-old theologian talking about gumey (our early version of the word money).
I’ll probably do that too, long after Dudette’s figured out all these wonderful childhood words and developed an even more expansive vocabulary. She’ll have to put up with her mother talking about mazagines, and by then she’ll have perfected the eye roll that she’s already been practicing.
Just so you know, she nailed stroganoff on the first try. I was pretty impressed (and a little disappointed).
The Process
Stroganoff isn’t one of those dishes that I make all that often. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the taste, it’s more because it’s hard to get the meat cooked perfectly. For me, this recipe is a case in point. I used a sirloin roast and cut it into the 1-inch pieces, as instructed. Both Hubby and Dudette commented on the fact that the beef was chewy.
My preference, when making a dish like this, is to cut the meat the same way I would a London broil; in thin slices against the grain. When it’s cut like that, it doesn’t matter if the cooking time isn’t long enough to break down the collagen and tenderize the meat, because it does the job for you.
Other than that, however, up until putting the stroganoff in a casserole dish and baking it, this is a pretty typical stroganoff and comes together as any other version would. You’ll use a pot for the pasta and a skillet for the meat and sauce. I suggest the high-side skillet so you can add the pasta to the sauce and stir them together without too much over-spill.
The Verdict
The flavor of this dish is very good and all three of us enjoyed it. I don’t understand the need for added step of baking the finished stroganoff though. It looked and tasted perfect before I poured it into the dish and we would have gladly eaten it right then and there. Baking it for the extra 20 minutes served only to have the moisture absorbed in the pasta, drying out what started out as a perfectly creamy dish.
What I’d Do Different Next Time
I’d fully cook the pasta and skip the whole 20-minute baking part.
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon each salt and black pepper
- 1 pound sirloin or beef tips, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 10 ounce package cremini mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed and sliced
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 14½ ounce can beef broth
- 2 tablespoons dry sherry (optional)
- 1 12 ounce bag egg noodles
- 1 cup sour cream
- ⅔ cup French-fried onions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Bring a large pot of salted water to boiling. Coat a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season steak with ¼ tsp each of the salt and pepper. Add steak to skillet in single layer. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, turning once. Remove to a plate.
- Reduce heat to medium and add onion. Cook 3 minutes. Stir in mushrooms and saute 5 minutes. Add remaining ¼ tsp each salt and pepper. Sprinkle with flour. Cook 1 minute. Whisk in broth. Bring to a simmer and add sherry, if using. Simmer 3 minutes.
- Cook noodles in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain. Remove sauce from heat and slowly stir in meat and sour cream. Add noodles and spoon into prepared dish. Cover with foil; bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. Uncover and top with fried onions.
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