Easy Beef Stroganoff

On Sunday I wasn't feeling overly inspired when it came to making dinner. I decided that given my non-inspired mood I’d look through my stack of recipes and find an easy recipe we had enjoyed in the past.

Easy Beef Stroganoff
From the Food Network courtesy of Rachel Ray
Serves 4


1 1/2 pounds of beef tenderloin fillet cut into strips or bite-size pieces (see note)
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons of butter, divided
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups of beef consommé (fancy name for beef broth)
2 teaspoons of Dijon style mustard
1/4 cup sour cream, eyeball it
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil or vegetable oil
1/2 small onion chopped (I chop it as small as I can)
1/3 cup coarsely chopped cornichons ( I omit these as I never have any on hand)
1 pound extra wide egg noodles (or your favorite pasta noodle) cooked
Chopped parsley leaves (for garnish purposes only)

1. Slice meat and season with salt and pepper. Set in freezer.

2. Heat a skillet over medium heat. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and cook with flour for 1 minute. Whisk in consommé (broth). Thicken 1 minute. Stir in mustard and sour cream, thicken 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and season sauce with salt and pepper.

3. Heat a second skillet over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil (see note below) and 1 tablespoon of butter, then add meat and onion and cook over high heat until brown on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes total. Then add the chopped cornichons and stir to combine.

4. Arrange meat on a bed of egg noodles and top with Stroganoff sauce and parsley. Serve with your favorite bread.

Note- Sometimes I haven't had the beef tenderloin on hand so have substituted for 1 pound of hamburger meat. Though I prefer the dish with the tenderloin, we still enjoy it with the hamburger meat too.

Note- I don't add the tablespoon of oil to the tablespoon of butter when cooking the meat and onion. I did that once and found it to be a little too oily. I have found that using the 1 tablespoon of butter alone works wonderfully.