Beef Stroganoff

Preparation

• 1
  1. Slice the steak very thinly into strips
• 2
  the meat needs to be well chilled and the knife really sharp to be able to cut it sufficiently thinly. 2. Prepare the vegetables. Peel and finely chop the onions, peel and crush the garlic then wipe the mushrooms
• 3
  leave tiny button mushrooms whole and halve any bigger ones.
• 4
  3. Melt 10g of butter and a teaspoon of olive oil in a hot frying pan and quickly flash fry the beef strips, just enough to brown them
• 5
  you may need to do this in two batches. Turn the heat down to medium, add the mushrooms to the beef and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, then remove from the heat.
• 6
  4. Melt the remaining 10g of butter and teaspoon of olive oil in a large saucepan over a fairly low heat, sprinkle in the flour and combine. Then gradually add the hot stock, stirring all the time to keep the mixture smooth. Cook gently for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chopped onion and cook for 2 minutes, then add the crushed garlic and cook for a further 3 minutes.
• 7
  5. Add the mustard, paprika and Worcestershire sauce, and then spoon in the crème fraiche and soured cream, stirring well to make sure everything is mixed together. [Adding half low fat crème fraiche makes the sauce a little lighter, but if you want a richer sauce you can use all soured cream.] Stir in a sprinkling of finely chopped tarragon leaves and the juice of half a lemon and then season to taste with salt and black pepper.
• 8
  6. Add the beef and mushrooms to the sauce and heat them through again, stirring as you do so. When it is hot, serve on a bed of rice, garnished with a little chopped parsley.