You know what drives me batty?  When I see commercials for packaged foods telling you they’ll save you time when in actuality it often takes longer to make the packaged chemical filled version of your favorite foods than it does to make them from scratch! Specifically, things like Beef Stroganoff.

Don’t even get me started on packaged pizza dough!

Anyway, tonight for supper I made beef stroganoff.  This is one of our standard “cool weather” meals because it’s fast, it’s tasty, and it doesn’t dirty a tonne of dishes.

As I made it I thought what I usually think when making easy meals like this, “I can’t even imagine why anyone would make this from a box.  It’s so easy and fast to make it from scratch!”

I am the sort of person who generally just throws things into a pan without measuring anything.  So I’ve based these measurements on what I believe to be the approx. measurements, but it’s not really that serious.  If you want to add a little more or a little less I’m sure nothing terrible will happen 😉  All you really need to know is that when making a roux you do need to use equal amounts of butter and flour, as for how much beef stock to add, it’s up to you how thick you want your sauce.  I you want it quite thin add a little extra stock, if you want it thicker and more gravy like add less.

Yield: 2 adult sized portions

15-Minute Beef Stroganoff

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Prep Time 2 minutes

Cook Time 13 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

• Beef (steak cut into strips or ground beef) {optional}
• Mushrooms, sliced (if using beef I usually use about 10 mushrooms, if not using beef I'll use 15-20)
• Beef broth approx. 1 1/2 cups
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Parsley
• Garlic, 2 cloves minced
• Egg Noodles approx. 200g or 1/2 of a bag (you can use another type of flat noodle if you like)
• Sour Cream 2-4 Tbsp
• Butter 1 1/2 Tbsp
• Flour 1 1/2 Tbsp

Instructions

Prepare pasta according to package directions

Brown beef (if using) in a pan then add mushrooms and garlic.

Add beef broth as needed to keep the beef and mushrooms from sticking to the pan.

Add Worcestershire Sauce & parsley

Once mushrooms are cooked through reduce heat to medium and add butter.

Stir until butter melts.

When butter has melted add the flour and stir to cook the flour slightly making a roux.

Begin to add the beef stock while continuously stirring scraping the bottom of the pan to ensure nothing sticks.

Stir, stir, stir while adding the broth until the sauce is well mixed.

Increase heat to medium high and continue stirring until sauce thickens (this should take 2-3 minutes).

Reduce to low, add 2 Tbsp of sour cream and mix.

Once pasta is cooked add to sauce and combine.

Serve it up and top each dish with a Tbsp of sour cream (optional)!

The really nice thing about a recipe like this is you can really customize it to suit you and your family.  I often make it without any meat, sometimes I make it without mushrooms.  What to use whole wheat or another type of pasta?  Go for it!  Dairy free?  Then leave out the sour cream.

[Tweet “Forget the box! You can make 15-minute Beef Stroganoff from scratch!”]

Recipes are merely guidelines, don’t stress over the “rules” too much and have fun!