Beef Stroganoff
Once thought of as an impressive gourmet dish for dinner parties, Beef Stroganoff is actually easy enough to make any night of the week. It’s essentially nothing more than thin strips of beef simmered in a creamy sauce. But what a delicious sauce it is, meaty and rich, and still guaranteed to impress.
There are several ways to make the creamy sauce, depending on how your body feels about dairy and how you feel about the flavor of coconut milk. This recipe combines 1/2 cup (125 ml) coconut milk with 1 cup (250 ml) whole cream for a decadent-tasting sauce with light coconut flavor. The whole cream can be omitted and 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) of coconut milk can be used instead. You could even omit both the coconut milk and cream and simply serve the meat and simmered stock with a dollop of sour cream. The dish will turn out great no matter what.
Beef Stroganoff was first made in Russia centuries ago. Way back then, stroganoff was served without a carb companion, unless some fried potatoes could be found. Rice and noodles were not part of the original dish so there’s no reason to add them now. The tender beef and mushrooms and flavorful sauce are hearty enough and so delicious that you won’t want a noodle to get in the way.
Serves: 4
Time in the Kitchen: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil (15 ml)
- 1 1/2 pounds (680 g) beef tenderloin or sirloin, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices (6 mm) that are 2 to 3 inches in length (5 cm to 7.6 cm)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (30 m)
- 1/4 cup finely chopped shallots (60 ml)
- 8 ounces cremini or white mushrooms, thinly sliced (230 g)
- 1 cup beef stock (250 ml)
- 1/2 cup coconut milk (125 ml)
- 1 cup heavy cream (250 ml)
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (15 ml)
- Chopped fresh parsley or dill for an optional garnish
Instructions:
Lightly season the beef with salt and pepper. Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet (12-inch or more) over high heat until the skillet is very hot. Add half of the beef strips, cooking for 1 minute on each side to brown. Put the cooked meat in a bowl. Let the pan heat up again before browning the rest of the meat. Add the second batch of meat to the bowl.
Turn the heat down slightly to medium-high. Add the butter. When it melts, add the shallots. Sauté for just a minute or two then add the mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms until soft and lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
Add the beef stock and coconut milk, scraping the bottom of the skillet to release all the tasty bits stuck to the pan. Boil for 5 minutes.
Whisk in the heavy cream and mustard. Boil for 3 to 5 minutes to thicken the sauce slightly.
Add the meat and any juice that’s collected in the bowl with the meat. Simmer just a few minutes to heat the meat back up.
Add sea salt to taste and serve. Add chopped parsley or dill for garnish if desired.
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Posted By: Worker Bee
That looks great, and so easy!
Mmmm, putting this one on my menu plan for next week!
How serendipitous that I just bought some beef and mushrooms.
Back in my vegan days I would make stroganoff sauce with coconut milk and lime juice, finding it decently mimicked sour cream. Of course, then I’d pour it over noodles.
Coconut milk and lime juice ~= sour cream.
Useful tip, thanks! (Sadly, I can’t tolerate dairy…)
Fantastic recipe! I will try it tomorrow.
Thank you!
Lovely recipe, thank you!
Wow. I’m actually drooling. Damn you!
I think I know what’s for dinner tonight! You don’t need noodles, but it you want to add some veggies or please picky eaters, I can see this being perfect on some strips of zucchini sautéed until tender in ghee or coconut oil.
This recipe also works served over baked spaghetti squash, and it can be made with ground beef if that’s what you have around. I also did it once with London broil, but that cut turned tough when cooked like this.
Funny, but in Sweden this dish is always made with pureed tomatoes (and no mushrooms) in the sauce. That’s kind of what makes it Beef Stroganoff… But I’ll try this as well. Love adding mushrooms to meat!
Mmm this looks wonderful. Gotta try it out.
An option for those that don’t do dairy and don’t enjoy coconut milk: I added some leftover butternut squash soup to beef and mushrooms the other night, and it came out tasting exactly like stroganoff. Of course, making butternut squash soup first definitely lengthens and complicates the recipe…
That sounds good! I love mixing things together and finding that they taste exactly like other seemingly unrelated foods. That happened to me once when I mixed some leftover chicken with smoked gouda cheese, mustard, mayonnaise, and a little honey, and it tasted exactly like Chick-fil-a.
Thanks for the tip! I roasted and puréed butternut and used it instead of cream/coconut milk- yum!
Not exactly like stroganoff but delicious!
This sounds really good. I will probably use sour cream and/or a little heavy cream rather than the coconut milk. I enjoy drinking coconut milk, but I don’t really care for the flavor in my food. The mustard is a great idea since stroganoff can be pretty bland. We have a great little Russian cafe where I live that serves stroganoff with mashed potatoes and dill pickle slices. Surprisingly, it makes a terrific combination.
One caveat: Use real sour cream. Check the label to make sure there’s nothing else in it. You might have to go to a specialty store like Whole Foods to get the real deal. The low-fat or “light” stuff and even some brands of full fat sour cream contain preservatives and various other ingredients that cause it to curdle easily.
You can get sour cream starter from http://www.culturesforhealth.com They have a simple one for sour cream and buttermilk, so you can use your own grass fed cream.
Assuming you can *get* grassfed cream… and probably that it’s raw, too boot. I wish!
Full fat plain yogurt makes a great sub for sour cream if you can’t find real sour cream.
I was making stroganoff one night and realized too late I was out of sour cream…but fortunately had Greek style yogurt on hand. It was perfect.
Looks great, will give it a whirl. Have a great weekend everyone.
Rod
Oddly enough, I have to go to my regular grocery store for sour cream–Daisy brand is not organic, but it is one of the few brands (including the organic ones that I’ve looked at) that has no additives.
I can’t eat dairy…any substitute necessary for the heavy cream? Any help would be appreciated.
I’ve been messing around with marscapone cheese lately. Made an eggplant mushoom dish with it. I noticed I got a creamy consistency without going through the hassle of reducing cream. If you tolerate good Tiramisu, it might be worth a try, as Tiramisu has marscapone cheese in it. Marscapone is like a cross between cream cheese and butter, with a rich texture and mild flavor. It melts easily but doesn’t stand up to heat like butter does.
I hope your system can tolerate it, because it’s delicious!
I used all coconut milk. It was SO GOOD. So, freaking good. And I didn’t even have the mustard.
Didn’t have the Beef but had a Pork Loin. That worked great with this.
Just made paleo stroganoff last night to serve today! Used top round for meat. Our family is paleo/primal. Our guest were not even aware they were eating primal meal.
One of the things that I like about this recipe is that while is does not require noodles, I can easily add noodles for the non-Primal members of my household. If they want pasta, we can still all be eating the same thing.
We made a rendition of this a couple months ago and served it over mashed cauliflower. The mashed cauliflower spread out the richness of it and the young grandkids ate it up!
The process is the base with which I prepare thai curries, pork’s filet mignon, chicken-alla-pizzaiola, veal with gorgonzola, and many others: just change the ingredients and you can invent dozens of quick, easy, tasty and (depending on the ingredients of course) healthy recipes.
One suggestion: soak the meat in the cream (or coconut milk) for one hour before you squeeze and sauté it: it will be much more tender
P.S. My wife also makes an interesting version of it with salmon, broccoli and paris mushrooms.
Yum! That looks delicious. Now, if I can just get my children to like mushrooms!(Or let them spend ages picking them out!)
Blend those mushrooms up in the food processor with a little coconut oil to make a mushroom paste. You can add it to all kinds of dishes. You will get the flavor and the kids don’t know they are in there! Use to do this with my finicky step kids.
Looks great. I usually skip the cream and serve with cauliflower rice. primal alex – your wife’s recipe sounds good. I haven’t tried that combo before
Beef stroganoff is a regular in our house, but my version is even easier: I always use leftover steak or roast beef. You just warm it up in the sauce. Never had any complaints.
this looks so lovely, I think I will be sharing this recipe with my class this week for sure. Thanks for sharing.
just made this with chicken livers and hearts, and lambs kidneys – delicious – my sister and I have secret offal eating parties away from the rest of our families !!
My Mom used to make this with ground beef, a ton of veggies and sour cream added at the end. Plus herbs, of course. It’s fabulous and so easy to make!
Oh Yum!!! I just fixed this for dinner, and it is devine! I didn’t use any coconut oil or milk, however, as hubby isn’t into all of this “healthy” stuff yet … I just used light EVOO to fry everything, and made a mess of the whole kitchen with the spatter! This recipe is a keeper, for sure. It hopefully will help “reel” hubby into eating better, as I made it with his favorite cut of meat, top sirloin.
Made this last night. Put it over zucchini noodles. Great recipe, thanks.
Served this over kelp noodles, great recipe. Thanks
Making this tonight! I miss my stroganoff. Anybody have a mashed cauliflower recipe that isn’t watery? I have not been impressed with my effords so far, and I am a damn good cook!
Try Mark’s cauliflower turnip mash. I haven’t tried it yet, but it sure looks and sounds good!
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/comfort-food-three-ways-how-to-turn-one-roast-into-several-amazing-meals/#axzz2K3nd0zEc
Roast the cauliflower. Roasting should help dry out the cauliflower as cauliflower contains a lot of water.
I think this would be perfect on top of mashed root veggies like parsnips, carrots, and turnips!