Challenge 5.1

I have a feeling I’m not going to be buying this cookbook after all. When I first picked it out for the Cookbook Challenge, I had been through it exhaustively. I had covered one whole side of loose leaf paper (aka A4) with the names of recipes I wanted to try. Of course, I had also overlooked how many of them required specialist equipment not currently available to me (you know, things like mixers and cake pans). But even with the ones that are possible with my limited range of tools, I keep finding myself in the same situation: I read over the recipe, realize how similar it is to one I already have or have been wanting to try—and then make that one instead. Over the weekend, I was all set to make Poor Boy Beef Stroganoff, expecting it to be simply a frugal variation on traditional beef stroganoff. Then I re-read the recipe and noticed that, if I made the cookbook version, after preparing all the major components of the dish—including the accompanying starch—I was going to have to put the whole thing in the oven and cook it again.



And I believe we’ve already covered the way I feel about that sort of thing.

Classic beef stroganoff
Copied down from watching Rick Stein prepare it on British television several years ago, and subsequently adapted over numerous preparations

1 medium onion
1 cup mushrooms
2 Tbsp butter
¼ tsp paprika
½ lb/250 g fillet steak
2 Tbsp white wine or chicken stock
1 cup Greek yogurt
2 Tbsp lemon juice
salt & pepper

Peel, halve, and slice onion. Set aside. Clean and quarter mushrooms. Set aside.

Melt butter in a heavy-bottomed pan. When it starts to foam, add onions and paprika. Sauté onions until softened, 5-7 minutes.

Add mushrooms and sauté until mushrooms begin to release some of their liquid.

Slice fillet steak into strips ¾ inch (1 cm) thick and wide. Add to pan and sear, turning to brown all sides lightly.

Add wine or stock and stir to deglaze pan. Add yogurt and lemon juice. Stir to combine. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired. Serve immediately over buttered egg noodles (traditional) or Italian potatoes with oil (DP international edition).

Serves 4.