Mushroom-Vegetable Stroganoff with Chicken and Beef

Marinade:

6T single source EVOO

3T good aged balsamic vinegar

3T Vodka (red or dry white wine)

a sprinkle of cayenne pepper

1-2T fresh ground black pepper

1 huge elephant garlic clove - sliced thin

21oz. good quality, well marbled, beef roast

8oz. chicken thigh meat

Mix the marinade in a medium glass bowl, with a silicone spatula, then set it aside while you prepare the meat.

Frozen beef is the perfect way to start this. When it's almost to the popsicle stage, cut off any outer fat, then slice the meat into long, thick 'logs' going with the grain. Slice it very thin across the grain.  Use a sharp knife or scissors, to cut the chicken into small chunks. Put only the beef into the marinade bowl and move it around for several minutes, so every surface is well coated and able to absorb the marinade. Leave it for an hour or so.

Now add the chicken and keep it toward the top of the bowl, working it around with your hands, so easy piece is coated just enough, but not soaking in the marinade, at the bottom of the bowl. . .(the beef needs more marinating than the chicken.) You can continue with the recipe now, or cover and refrigerate the marinating meat for 6-8 hours, or overnight, which I recommend.

Traditional stroganoffs, as I know them, are heavy on beef, mushrooms, with onion and a beefy sauce which is often cream based, over thick noodles. This one will have a vegetable based sauce, also with lots of beef and cream overtones. Start with the vegetables shown on the left, the carrot, celery and onion.

Chop them up, into a big kettle, adding a couple tablespoons of good quality EVOO, lots of fresh ground pepper and one envelope of dry onion soup. Measure out 4c cold fresh water and add about a cup of this to the pot. Mix the vegetables and seasonings together, cover and let simmer 45 minutes to an hour, or until the carrot pieces are very soft. Let that cool a bit, then use an immersion blender to get it silky smooth, or just do a rough blend, to leave it with some texture. Add more water if needed to get it to the consistency of a thick pasta sauce, then set it aside.

1# small mushrooms

2 colorful mini-peppers

4T butter

Put the marinated meat into a big kettle, stir and sauté it for a half hour while browning the mushrooms. Cut the washed-dry mushrooms into quarters, slice the peppers and saute these together in a medium skillet with the butter until nicely browned. Add this, and the vegetable puree, to the meat mixture, cover and continue to cook on low heat for 20 minutes.

Cook the pasta to al dente, drain and rinse it. Put it in a big bowl, drizzle EVOO over it to keep the pieces separate and sprinkle with dry tarragon and parsley.

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1-2c sour cream

Cool the meat-mushroom mixture slightly, then stir in the soup and sour cream. Make any necessary flavor adjustments and serve over the hot noodles. I made this for a couple new, young friends who stayed for dinner, while here working on a construction project for me. I packed up the leftovers for them to bring home for another dinner with their roommates, but forgot to take a photo of the final dish. It made a lot, turned out well, and tasted really good.

I served this with a simple cucumber, tomato, onion salad with EVOO, lemon juice, fresh ground black pepper and some sea salt.

This recipe is a departure from a normal stroganoff, but if you have good, fresh ingredients, there's no such thing as a bad stroganoff. . .

Be Creative! Experiment. . .Have Fun With Your Cooking Adventures! . .Lin