I needed to use the chain from my beef tenderloin last night so I decided to make Beef Stroganoff. This is a hearty beef dish with egg noodles and a tangy sour cream sauce. When I was making the sauce I found that I needed some more liquid. Instead of using just water to deglaze the pan I decided to use some Zinfandel along with the water. It tasted fine, but the sauce was a lovely lavender rather than it’s normal light brown from the beef drippings.

What will I change for next time? My wife didn’t like the color of the sauce so I will use beef broth instead of wine in the sauce. Also, I will add the mushrooms when I simmer the meat so they are cooked through and absorb more of the beef flavor.

This recipe is adapted from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook.

Ingredients
1 tbsp. butter
1 lb. steak, cut into bite-size pieces
1 shallot, sliced
¾ tsp. salt
¾ c. water
½ c. red wine
8 ozs. mushrooms, stems removed and cut in quarters
8 ozs. wide egg noodles
1 tbsp. flour
½ c. sour cream at room temperature

Recipe
1) Melt butter in a 12 inch skillet over medium hot heat.
2) Cook steak until browned (don’t worry about cooking it through)
3) Add salt, ¼ cup water and ¼ cup red wine and bring to a boil.
4) Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until steak is tender. Cooking time will vary from 45 minutes to 1¼ hours depending on the cut of steak used.
5) Add mushrooms and cook until heated through.
5) About 20 minutes before the steak is done cook noodles. Drain (do not rinse) and put on a platter in a 200° oven to keep warm.
6) Using a slotted spoon place steak and mushrooms on noodles and put back in oven.
7) Stir flour in ¼ cup water to make a slurry.
8) Deglaze pan with ¼ cup water and ¼ red wine.
9) Slowly add slurry and cook over medium heat until mixture thickens.
10) Stir in sour cream and cook until heated through (do not boil).
11) Spoon sauce over steak and noodles and serve.