Stroganoff Hack

I didn't have sour cream in order to make a banding stroganoff, and even after making this I prefer it made with sour cream.  However, this was a decent hack.  In the future, I think I'll be buying plain greek yogurt instead of flavored so I can sub that in for sour cream.  I also didn't have stew meat, which is my usual go to for stroganoff.  I did have a frozen bubba burger and some brussel sprouts.  So how did I do it?  A splash of vinegar gave it that sour taste, and using a roux thickened it up.

Ingredients:

• Mashed potatoes (go look up how to make those, I'm not doing anything special, use instant if you want)
• 5 large brussel sprouts (double for two - I just sliced, oiled, salted, then roasted these for 15 minutes in my air fryer at 380 F)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon oil (i usually run with canola)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 frozen bubba burger (This was also in my air fryer, I took it out after 10 minutes because it was cooked partially and all defrosted, I cut it up into chunks at that stage)
• 6 baby bella (cremini) mushrooms
• 1 tsp vinegar (don't go overboard, I oops it into my dish - i had rice vinegar, but white or apple cider ok, even lemon juice in a pinch - looking for acid / sour)
• 2 tablespoons (more?) of Worcestershire sauce (can't get enough of this stuff - if I had to sub for vegetarian I'd go 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp tomato paste)
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons butter (oil, whatever - equal measure fat to flour)
• 1 cup stock of choice (i used better than bouillon beef)
• 1/4  cup half & half
• salt and pepper to taste (sorry, I haven't measured salt or pepper in years: taste your food!  don't add salt too early to dishes that will reduce in size)

I'm not going into much process of what I already described above, so pay attention.  Not teaching mashed potatoes or how to handle a frozen burger to mostly cooked, but still needs more.

Dice those onions, get that oil hot in a pan while you do.  When it's heated up (you can see it shimmer?) then toss the diced onions in.  Don't put them in before it's hot, that makes it gross.  You can also toss in the partially cooked, chopped bubba burger during the time the onions are cooking down.  You want to cook them between medium - medium-high heat.  Add a little salt and pepper.  Keep stirring, don't let them burn.  If they are cooking too fast, lower the heat.  You're going to cook them until they start to get a little translucent around the edges.  At this point, you've already tossed in your bubba burger.

Reduce heat to just medium now.  Add in those chopped mushrooms.  They don't need to be cremini, those are just the ones I most frequently work with.  Go wild.  I put a cover over the pan to help sweat out their moisture.  We want them to reduce in size, and cook off that water - but leave that flavor behind.  10-15 minutes until you can tell they've reduced.

Now, add your 2 tablespoons of butter.  Stir that in, get it melted.  Add in the 2 tablespoons of flour.  Stir and cook, the flour might start sticking to the bottom of the pan, this is ok as long as it's not burning. Your next step will unstick it and get it all up into the sauce.  When the whole mixture looks dry and a bit sticky to you, this is when you can add your stock.

A note about adding stock.  If you add refrigerator temperature stock to your dish, you just cooled it down a huge amount.  It will take a lot longer to bring it to temp.  Please, heat your stock before you add it to an ongoing dish.  Use the microwave, make it with boiling water from bouillon (electric kettle anyone?), something that doesn't shock your food into lukewarm gross.  Now stir it up, add that 1/4 cup half and half, get it incorporated.  I turn up the heat a little here to medium-high so I can get it to start a simmer faster.  Once it's there, it will really start to thicken up.  You've got this nice brown gravy like thing.  Toss in your Worcestershire sauce and vinegar, and stir it gently until you've lifted everything you can from the bottom of the pan.

You're good once it's the consistency you like.  IF you want it thicker, make a roux in a small pan first, 1:1 ratio of fat to flour now, and get it golden brown over medium heat before tossing it in - it won't clump that way.  Or you can make a slurry (1 tablespoon corn starch to 2 tablespoons water, whisk or fork vigorously) and add that in.  don't go overboard, but if you do just add a little stock to thin it back down.

OK, so now you got your sauce, take it off that heat.  Make a mound of mashed potatoes, carve a little hole in the middle to hold your stroganoff hack, and pour it on.  Eat with those roasted brussel sprouts. Drink plenty of water.  It's a party in your mouth!

 A little note here, not only did I splash (instead of measure) too much vinegar in my dish, I also added it before I added the half and half.  I suspect that's what made it look the way it does in this pic.  Don't do what I did.  I'm not guaranteeing it will look different, but it might make the difference in presentation.