Beef Stroganoff with Jasmine rice and Homemade shoestring potatoes

(Stroganoff de carne com arroz no vapor e batata palha caseira )

(Russian: бефстроганов, tr. befstróganov) is a Russian dish of sautéed pieces of beef served in a sauce with smetana (sour cream). From its origins in mid-19th-century Russia, it has become popular around the world, with considerable variation from the original recipe.

In 1891, the French chef Charles Brière, who was working in Saint Petersburg, submitted a recipe for beef Stroganoff to a competition sponsored by the French magazine L’Art culinaire.^[4] This led Larousse Gastronomique to assume that he was the inventor of this dish, but both the recipe and the name existed before then

( source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef_Stroganoff)

I grew up eating Beef Stroganoff, we had few adaptations of this recipe in Brazil made by the Russian community who immigrated mostly to the South of Brazil .Many of this population are descendants from the Volga Germans that immigrated to Brazil following their expulsion from the Soviet Union. However the great majority are White Russians who arrived in Brazil right after the Russian Civil War in the 1920s. By Brazilian records At 2 of August 1905 the 379 Russians Jews descendants of Southampton arrived by boat in Santos according to the published book ” Imigrantes Russos no Brasil” ( Russians immigrants in Brazil- author : Igor Chnee) where he said there are more than 1,8 millions decedents of Russian immigrants and refugees living Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo, Goiás , Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina and Pernambuco.

I learned this recipe watching a friend who was the 3 generation of Russian descent. She used to feed a family of 6 with 1.5 kg of filet mignon and a good Cognac ( in her hometown in Parana she used to buy:- CHATEAU DU BREUIL Conhaque- Calvados Fine V.S- price: R$ 290,00 in Canadian Dollars : 67.96) what for a Brazilian Secretary was very expensive and I remember she got super furious and screamed with him when her husband got her a cheap and not true Cognac called Dreher ( sugar cane based and native Production Price: 4.45 cad dollars ) and she made him to leave and find a true cognac. I’m so grateful to be living in Canada because the Cognac I bought yesterday in Brazil would cost over there : French –HENNESSY Cognac -V.S.O.P-R$ 570,51 !!! what means : 133.60 Canadian dollars, At Liquor mart It cost me 69.40 dollars, what is the expected price.

I saw her cooking this recipe many times, but never took any notes so in the end I develop my own recipe inspired in my friend W.R recipe. This is not Kosher style because you mix meat and milk products.

Total time : 40 minutes

Prep: 5min

Cooking: 35min

Ingredients:

500 g top sirloin steak, cubed

1 table spoon of fresh ground black pepper

3 table spoons of butter

1 table spoon of sunflower oil

1 yellow onions chopped small

1 table spoon of kosher salt

#Hennessy Very Special (V.S) cognac- 1/2 cup

300 gr fresh champignons ( white mushrooms)

1 table spoon of Tomatoes paste

1 table spoons of Dijon mustard

2 table spoons of ketchup

1 can of Carnation Thick cream mixed with 1/3 cup milk 2% and 2 table spoons of 14% sour cream

white Thailand’s jasmine rice- 3 cups steamed on Rice cooker

2 big brown potatoes- Grate the potatoes in a thick grater

1 big container with cold water and 1 table spoon of white vinegar

1 small pan with 2 cups of sunflower oil to fry the shoestring potatoes

PREPARATION:

Wash the jasmine rice with running water, drain and transfer to the rice cooker. Go prepare the beef. While I was doing the beef stroganoff my husband was doing the fried potatoes.

In a medium container mix the beef cubes with ground peppers.

In a large pan fryer melt 2 table spoons of butter and 1 table spoon of sunflower and put in high heat and fry the beef until the majority of the liquid drains it will take about 10 minutes.

Remove the beef to a container and mix the rest of the butter on the pan and transfer the onions and fry until becomes transparent , transfer back the beef, sprinkle the salt on top of the meat.

Get the cognac cup and very carefully drop on the meat and incline the pan towards the stove fire and Flambé with brandy/ Cognac. If you have an electric stove then light it on fire with a lighter or a match. The flame will last until there’s no more alcohol left; depending on how much booze you added, the flambé can last for as short as a few seconds, or as long as a minute. But keep a large lid nearby in case you need to smother any jumping flames. It never happened to me but just to be safe.

Wait the fire to be done than add the champignons and mix well than close with the pan lid. Cook for 4 minutes.

Add the tomatoes paste, the mustard and the ketchup , mix well and put in low heat with the lid on for extra 5 minutes.

The original recipe of stroganoff they used Sour cream, in Brazil it does not exist so they only used Thick cream. Once I live in Canada now I decided to try adding some sour cream and I had to mix a bit of milk because the thick cream We have in North America is thicker than the Nestle Brazilian one. So in a container mix the 3 of them, the can, the sour cream and milk and put in very low heat and transfer this mixture to the stroganoff and mix well folding in without boiling. This step will be fast, less than 2 minutes. Turn off the heat.

Batata Palha/ Shoestring Fries (Shoestring Potatoes):

They are also simple to make if…you have a Mandoline slicer. No problem if you don’t have one, we did not have either so we used the thick grater, because the Brazilian style is a bit thicker than the Julienne style.

Wash the 2 large potatoes. If you have a Mandoline , no need to peel the potatoes. Slice the potatoes with a Mandoline slicer fitted with the julienne blade. Or just use a cheese Grater, on the large blade grate them. Transfer to a pasta drainer and wash carefully all the potatoes with running water until all the white – starchy clears up. This is to remove most of the starchy. To make it crunchy transfer the grated potatoes to a container with water , ice and vinegar for 3 more minutes. Drain the water. Heat the oil in the pain to medium heat. Do not over heat or they will burn and you will lose everything. Get lots of paper towel and very carefully remove the humidity from the potatoes before you fry them. When is dry enough transfer to the pan in small amounts at time. Remove with a skimmer; take off the oil excess with a sieve and more paper towel. Sprinkle a tea spoon of table salt on your potatoes before serving it. If you never done these homestyle shoestring potatoes you can wash this video to have a better idea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df08Q0bZFu8

Serve with Jasmine rice and stroganoff ! I am sure everyone will enjoy, the most funny thing about this recipe is that when I was living in Firenze, Italy when I was 18 years old I was missing so much Brazilian food that I went to a Brazilian restaurant and guess what was the TOP 1 Menu thing? – Beef Stroganoff , not Feijoada !!! I laughed, a Russian dish as our most Popular dish in Italy!

Archive for February, 2021

Beef Stroganoff ( Brazilian Style)