November officially means I can start piling on the comfort food, right? Are we seriously 4 days into November? NOVEMBER? Who huh? I’m slightly uncomfortable with how quickly this year has flown by. To escape this reality, you can find me on my couch with a big bowl of this super comforting beef stroganoff. I know it’s not just me when I say that we’re officially into comfort food season. AMIRIGHT? Soups and one skillet chicken dinners like this one (over rice) are all perfect for the season. Before the beef stroganoff police tickets my recipe, let me say, this is just my version of a stroganoff. I’m sure that there are many, more authentic recipes out there. This is just my take and I encourage you to try it because it’s super good. Yup, totally tooting my own horn here. I love using small baby bella (or crimini) mushrooms in my recipe for beef stroganoff. It gives this dish so much more flavor and adds a little more nutrition from just having meat and gravy. It’s completely up to you, if you’d like to leave the mushrooms out and substitute in more meat, (which would be my husband) please do! Another tip to remember, brown the meat in batches. You don’t want to over crowd the pan when your browning meat because that will simply result in steamed beef slices. If you’re using a 10 – 12 inch skillet, you will most definitely need to split the meat into 3-4 batches. It’s worth it, trust me! Also, I find that using a stainless steel skillet helps produce more flavor. This is because once the meat is browned (and mushrooms, shallots, and garlic) it leaves these little flavor bits all over the bottom of the skillet which we then deglaze with beef broth. If you use a nonstick skillet, it never has a chance to adhere to the bottom of the skillet, thus producing a less flavorful gravy! I sound like Alton Brown, can you tell i’ve really thought about this one? Speaking of worth it, I went a little off script here and added a big splash of Worcestershire sauce to my stroganoff recipe. It really helps the flavors form. Definitely do not skip out on it. Another ingredient that I used is mustard. 2 small teaspoons and WOWZA! The flavor takes a whole new turn. Mustard really isn’t anything new to a beef stroganoff recipe. Many recipes around the world add in a bit to bright the flavor, it makes all the difference though. I wasn’t a believer in adding mustard until I was recipe testing this and i’m definitely never going back to my old ways. Now grab a ladle and serve up a big scoop of this beef stroganoff onto a bed of egg noodles. Warm, comforting gravy with lots of sliced mushrooms and tender beef. Lots of fork twirling action with all those noodles. The perfect comfort food for a chilly evening. Now if only Houston would let us have one :/
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