Tetris, helicopters, the Periodic Table… Russia has contributed a number of useful things to the world. And vodka, although Poland and Russia have been arguing about who invented vodka for centuries.
At any rate, despite Russia’s relative inability to create anything… well, but war, here recently (and the occasional super model), they did muster up enough culinary innovation to create one of my favorite dishes on earth. Stroganoff.
This extremely simple dish was originally made with beef. However, it can be made with any meat. Even poultry. But I prefer venison (duh).
Specifically, the sirloin, but you can use any part of the animal. I would just lean away from any cuts that have a lot of silver skin, like the shanks. I prefer sirloin because it keeps its tenderness relatively well when cooked above medium rare. And you wouldn’t want to waste the loins (backstraps) on this dish.
So let’s get to it…
Venison Stroganoff
Ingredients:
2 pounds of venison steak
1 large onion
2 cups of sliced mushrooms
12 oz of beef or venison broth
1 ½ cups of white wine
¾ cup of sour cream
2 tablespoons of flour
4 tablespoons of butter
Salt and pepper
1 bunch of fresh Italian parsley
1 bunch of fresh thyme
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 package of wide egg noodles
Preparation:
Cut venison steaks into roughly one-inch cubes. Salt and pepper liberally and let rest at room temperature for 30 mins. Dice onion. Slice mushrooms. Finely chop parsley and thyme. Start boiling water for pasta.
Directions:
On a smoking hot cast iron skillet, add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to the pan and sear the venison cubes for about 90 seconds. You want your pan hot enough so the cubes are golden brown on the outside, yet very rare on the inside. Set steaks aside to rest.
Add one tablespoon of olive oil, diced onions, mushrooms, thyme and salt and pepper to taste. (NO PARSLEY YET!) Sautee until tender. Add butter.
Once melted, add flour and stir until all the ingredient are incorporated and no chunks of flour remain. Add broth and wine. Stir and simmer for 3-5 mins. Sauce should begin to thicken.
Before doing anything else, now is a good time to add pasta to pot of boiling water (we want everything to be done at the same time). Cook for 7 mins so al dente.
Now, add sour cream and resting meat into the skillet. On medium heat, slowly stir and let simmer for an additional 5 mins. This will cook the meat to a medium temperature.
Taste to make sure you have enough salt and pepper. Add if needed. Lay a bed of pasta on the plate. Spoon sauce and meat over the pasta. Garnish with freshly chopped Italian parsley and ENJOY!
Mother Laaaaand Venison Stroganoff? Sssstop…
