Taste & Create XI: Mushroom Stroganoff

Taste & Create is a monthly food blog event, hosted by Nicole of For the Love of Food, in which food bloggers are randomly paired and tasked with preparing one of their partner's recipes.

For June's Taste & Create event, I was paired with Judith of Shortcut to Mushrooms: A Vegetarian Food Blog. (don't laugh, Shell! I'm still very much a Carnivore Cattle Rancher!) I do happen to love mushrooms...I miss the days of mushroom-picking back in Michigan when I was young. I am a sucker for mushrooms, white wine and sour cream, so I decided to make Judith's Mushroom Stroganoff.

Unfortunately, my small grocery store is mushroomically challenged. Meaning, I had three choices for mushrooms: white button mushrooms, portabella mushrooms, or canned stems and caps. Again, please don't laugh. I have to deal with this every time I go to town. I felt lucky to even see a portabella. I decided to go out on a limb and use a mixture of white and portabella mushrooms. Cutting edge, I know.

Incidentally, I don't use the "m" word (margarine). I use butter, and more than one tablespoon. I also eat meat. I invited the ranch hand's wife and the farmer over for dinner, H-Bomb told them we were having "noodles and mushrooms," and the ranch hand's wife said, "I'll bring the meat." That is the kind of place we live.

But this dish was excellent. I love stroganoff! The only problem was the color: it was, well, gray. I don't know if it was my gourmet mix of mushrooms or the sour cream or what, it was quite gray and a bit unappetizing-looking. But delicious! I will probably make this dish again. And hope for a better color!



Mushroom Stroganoff

2 lbs. mushrooms, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1-2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Egg noodles

Boil a pot of water for the pasta, and put butter in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute' garlic for about 30 seconds, then add the onion and saute' another two minutes. (I like cooking my onions a bit longer, I probably left them in there for 5 minutes).

Keep an eye on your water, and when it boils throw in pasta and salt, and cook as recommended.

After 2 to 5 minutes sauteing onions, add the mushrooms and stir. I put a lid on for a few minutes to steam the mushrooms a bit, then removed the lid and turned up the heat to encourage the mushroom juice to evaporate. I cooked them for about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, to cook out most of the juice.

When the mushrooms are tender and the juice is almost all gone, lower the heat to medium and add flour. Stir and cook for about a minute, then add half a cup of white wine and continue to stir frequently for three minutes or until it thickens considerably. Turn the heat off and stir sour cream and nutmeg. I did not use any salt or pepper. And the boys like their "sauce" on the side, so I just served the mushrooms either on top or on the side of the noodles, instead of tossing all the noodles and sauce together.