It Aint't Pretty - Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

I'm not sure if there is any way to make a Beef Stroganoff look good. It usually tastes good, but you have to get past that first visual. Maybe it's just me but my stroganoff always looks, well, not good. This dish was no different but it was a very easy recipe to do. I chose it because I didn't have to pre-brown the meat and I only had 15 minutes to throw some supper together. In that 15 minutes the meat had to be defrosted, too, so I was really short on time. The recipe inspiration came from the Company's Coming Slow Cooker book, but as per my usual I made a few variations. The original recipe calls for 1/4 cup of ketchup but I grew up in a house that felt that ketchup in recipes was sacriligeous. On occasion I do use ketchup in a recipe but in this case I used some brown sugar, vinegar and a little bit of celery salt. If you prefer, you can use the original ketchup and do penance later. An update from Mr. Chef - a 'traditional' stroganoff doesn't have tomatoes in it, so I guess the proper title for this dish should be "Crockpot Stroganoff-like Beef".

Crockpot Beef Stroganoff. 1.5 lbs round steak, sliced into 1/4" (12mm) thick slices 1/3 cup flour 1 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 1/2 tsp paprika 1 1/2 cups (2 medium) onions, chopped 1/4 tsp garlic poweder, OR one clove garlic, minced 1 Tbsp. brown sugar (or ketchup) 1 Tbsp. wine vinegar (or ketchup) 1/4 tsp. celery salt (or ketchup) 1 14oz can tomatoes with juice, broken up 2 tsp. OR 2 cubes OR 2 packets beef bouillon powder 2 Tbsp. sherry OR alcohol-free sherry 8 oz fresh sliced mushrooms OR 1 can of mushrooms, well drained 1 cup of sour cream OR light sour cream Put the flour, salt, pepper and paprika in a large plastic bag. Add the beef strips and shake well, then empty the bag into a crockpot/slow cooker. Mix the next group of ingredients EXCEPT for the sour cream in a bowl. Pour on top of the beef and stir it all together. Cook on low for about 7 hours, or on high for about 3 1/2 hours. Stir in the sour cream for the last 30 minutes of cooking time. I suggest serving this over broad egg noodles so: start a pot of water to boil. Stir the sour cream in to the beef mixture in the crockpot. Prep any veggies you are planning to serve with supper. Add noodles to boiling water and cook for about 8 minutes, or until as done as you like them. When the noodles are done, the stroganoff should be done as well. Serves about 6.

Comments

[Steve]

I think it looks fine to me and it probably taste great.
Thanks for the croc pot recipes.
Regards-Steve

http://www.easy-crockpotrecipes.com

[Megan]

Steve - thanks!

Just checked out your site and it rocks! Can't wait to see what you add to the site.