Italian Stroganoff

Ingredients:

Butter 1 lb ground chuck
Salt and pepper
1 yellow onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
8 oz sliced cremini or button mushrooms, sliced
1/3 cup of dry sherry, dry white wine, or water
1/2 cup chopped parsley, loosely packed
1 1/4 cups full fat sour cream (room temperature)
1 tsp Racconto Lemon Juice
1/4 tsp paprika or more to taste
1 12 oz package Racconto Egg Noodles

Preparation:

Bring large pot of water to boil for the egg noodles.

Heat a large sauté pan on medium high heat. Melt 1 tsp butter in the pan and swirl it around. Sprinkle the bottom of the pan generously with salt. Working in batches as not to crowd the meat, break up the ground beef and add it to the pan, sprinkle the meat with salt. Do not stir the meat, as stirring will prevent browning. Once the meat is well browned flip to the other side. When both sides are browned, use a slotted spoon to remove from the pan and set aside. Continue to brown the meat in batches, adding a tsp of butter to the pan with each batch if needed, and salting the pan as needed. Remove meat from pan. Drain excess fat from pan.

Lower the heat to medium. Add the onions to the pan. If you are working with very lean meat, you may not have any residual fat in the pan. If this is the case, you’ll want to add in a Tbsp of olive oil or butter to the pan. Cook the onions, scraping up the meat drippings, until soft, about 5 minutes. Remove onions from the pan (add to the meat).

Add the pasta to the boiling water.

While the pasta is cooking, add a Tbsp of butter to the pan, increase the heat to medium high. Add the sliced mushrooms. Sauté until nicely browned (about 4 minutes). Add the sherry (or dry white wine or water) to the pan to deglaze the pan, scraping up any browned bits. Let the sherry reduce by at least a half, then reduce heat to low.

Remove the pan from the heat. Mix in the sour cream and paprika until smooth. Return the pan to very low heat, and do not let the sour cream boil (or it may curdle). You may add a few Tbsp of water to the mixture to thin it out a bit at any time. Stir in the lemon juice, and about 1/4-1/2 tsp of salt (taste). Stir in the meat and onions. Stir in the chopped parsley. Add more salt, pepper, and/or paprika to taste.

Keep the stroganoff on warm heat until the noodles are done cooking. When the noodles are ready (al dente) drain. Serve the stroganoff on top of egg noodles.

Total Prep Time: 45 minutes
Serves: 6