Grass-fed beef, a few tired mushrooms, garden vegetables and a beetroot that had no business being in a stroganoff. Or did it?
It’s been a while since I’ve written anything for Rough Cut Kitchen. I’ve had a rather ordinary few weeks on the health front, and between illness, hospital visits and surgery, there hasn’t been much enthusiasm for cooking, let alone writing about it.
But things are improving, and I thought it was time to get back into the kitchen.
Nothing particularly ambitious. Just a decent dinner for two.
It started with the beef
I had about 500 grams of grass-fed beef in the fridge, part of a box of meat I have delivered from time to time, sourced directly from a farm through a good butcher.
I like buying beef this way. You know where it comes from, the quality is generally excellent, and there’s something satisfying about having good meat on hand without another trip to the supermarket.
The original idea was straightforward enough: beef stroganoff.
Except I didn’t have quite the ingredients I would normally use.
There were a few mushrooms lurking in the crisper, looking rather past their prime. Not spoiled, just a bit dried out and definitely ready to be eaten. There were two small leeks, some Dijon mustard, light sour cream, garlic and butter.
And there was beetroot.
Now, beetroot isn’t something that immediately springs to mind when you think of stroganoff. But I had some from the garden, and I was determined to use it.
So into the stroganoff it would go.
Cooking with what you’ve got
One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about cooking is that recipes are really just starting points.
You can follow them religiously, of course, but where’s the fun in that?
I chopped the leeks, sliced the mushrooms and diced the raw beetroot into small pieces. The beef would be cut into strips, and everything would come together in a creamy mustard sauce.
I’d normally use a dash of Worcestershire sauce, but the bottle was empty. There was light soy sauce in the cupboard, which seemed a reasonable substitute in a modest quantity.
Not quite traditional, but neither was the beetroot.
The idea was to cook the beef quickly, build the sauce around the leeks and mushrooms, and let the beetroot contribute a little colour, sweetness and earthiness.
Rather than cook the beetroot into the sauce until everything turned pink, I decided to fold it through towards the end.
We were having penne pasta rather than the more traditional noodles or rice. Again, simply because that’s what I had and what I fancied.
The recipe
Beef stroganoff with leeks, mushrooms and beetroot
Makes four moderate servings, or dinner for two with enough stroganoff left over for another meal.
Ingredients
- 500 g grass-fed beef, sliced into strips
- 2 small leeks, cleaned and sliced
- A handful of mushrooms, sliced
- 1 small raw beetroot, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 150–200 mL light sour cream
- 1 tablespoon butter
- A little olive oil
- A small splash of light soy sauce
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 200 g penne pasta for two people
Method
1. Prepare everything. Slice the beef into strips, clean and chop the leeks, slice the mushrooms and finely dice the beetroot. Have the mustard, sour cream and seasonings ready.
2. Brown the beef. Heat a little oil in a large frying pan and quickly brown the beef in batches. Don’t overcrowd the pan. Remove the beef and set it aside.
3. Cook the vegetables. Add the butter and leeks to the pan and cook gently until they soften. Add the mushrooms and continue cooking until they release their moisture and begin to brown. Stir in the garlic.
4. Build the sauce. Add the Dijon mustard and a small splash of light soy sauce. Stir everything together, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add a little water if the mixture needs loosening.
5. Finish the stroganoff. Return the beef and its juices to the pan. Reduce the heat and stir through the sour cream. Warm gently without boiling vigorously. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Add the beetroot. Fold the finely diced beetroot through towards the end, allowing it to warm and soften a little while retaining some texture. If you prefer softer beetroot, cook it separately beforehand.
7. Cook the pasta. Boil the penne in salted water until al dente. Drain, reserving a little pasta water in case the sauce needs loosening.
8. Serve. Set aside half the stroganoff for another meal, then combine the remainder with the cooked penne. Serve in warm bowls.
And the verdict?
It was really tasty.
The beef worked beautifully with the creamy mustard sauce, and the leeks and mushrooms gave it the sort of savoury depth you’d expect from a good stroganoff.
The beetroot was interesting.
I wouldn’t say it was an entirely natural fit, at least not in the sense that we’re accustomed to finding beetroot in a beef stroganoff. There was something slightly odd about encountering those little red pieces amongst the beef, mushrooms and pasta.
But I really liked it.
The beetroot brought a different flavour and texture to the dish, and its earthy sweetness sat surprisingly well alongside the mustard and sour cream.
Would I do it again? Yes, I think I would.
Perhaps not every time. There is, after all, something to be said for a traditional stroganoff. But this was a perfectly good variation, and one that came about simply because I had a beetroot that needed using.
Back in the kitchen
What I enjoyed most about this meal wasn’t really the recipe.
It was being back in the kitchen, making something from scratch, using good ingredients and seeing what happened.
After a few weeks of feeling decidedly below par, there’s something rather comforting about getting back to ordinary routines. Chopping vegetables, cooking dinner, sitting down to a decent meal.
And the best part is that there’s another helping of stroganoff in the fridge.
That’s not a bad outcome for an evening’s work.
Rough Cut Kitchen — good ingredients, a little improvisation, and no particular obligation to follow the rules.
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