Beef Stroganoff

This is one of those dishes that I hated when I was a kid and absolutely love now. Mushrooms used to completely gross me out, but the last four years I can't get enough of them as long as they're cooked. Especially in wine. Go figure. I tend to make this with ground beef, but it's easy enough to substitute a similar amount of beef cut into 1/2 inch pieces, you just need to cook it in more butter to make up for the fat content of the ground beef. Here's my version:

Ingredients:
4 tbs butter, maybe more
1 lb ground beef
3 chopped garlic cloves
3 chopped shallots
12 ounces mushrooms
2-4 tbs flour
1 cup white wine or vermouth
4 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 cups of milk
Salt and Pepper
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 lb egg noodles

Heat 2 tbs of butter in a deep skillet. Brown 1 lb of ground beef. Here's an important tip: this can't run out of grease. If you cook it too long and it soaks back in, or if you use super lean beef, you have to keep adding in a couple tbs of butter here and there. It will not work if it's dry.

Once it's almost cooked, add 3 large chopped garlic cloves and two large chopped shallots. Fry for one minute, making sure the garlic doesn't burn. Add in 12 ounces chopped mushrooms. I usually use crimini, but tonight I'm trying it with portabellos. Try to avoid using the boring white button ones. Yawn.

Once the mushrooms start to shrink, add 2-3 tbs flour, enough to soak up the grease from the butter and the beef. If it's a crazy amount of grease, scoop a bit out. Think the consistency of a roux. Cook until the flour starts to turn color, stirring constantly. If you haven't noticed yet, your arm might be a bit sore after this one.

Add 1 cup of white wine, one bay leaf and four sprigs of thyme. Use dry vermouth for a stronger flavor. Next time, I'll let the thyme and bay leaf sit in the wine when I start it. Stir, scraping the bottom of the pan. Cook for a bit to lose the stong alcohol flavor. It will be thick from the start, but let it go for at least a couple of minutes, then pull the bay leaf and thyme stems and add 1 1/2 cups of milk. Heat through, still stirring, it will get thick almost immediately. Taste it, add salt and lots of pepper. I used about 1/2 tsp of salt and about ten grinds of pepper. I love lots of pepper in this. Pull off the heat and stir in 1/2 cup sour cream when you're ready to serve.

While this is going on, cook 1/2 lb of egg noodles. Add salt and pepper, lots of butter, and serve the stroganoff over the noodles.