Slow Cooked Beef Stroganoff

I can't live without my crock pot.

It's as important to me in the kitchen as a fork or spoon or knife.  A necessity, if you will.

Up until recently I had two.  The first was a standard 6 quart black one made by Crock Pot.  After years of weekly use, the handle broke off the top. It was still usable, though.  And use it I did.

Then, one day I was pouring my corn on the cob (water and all) into it to keep the corn warm during a cookout and the ceramic insert cracked.  I was devestated, to say the least.

Luckily, I had another one.  It was old (used to be my mom's), but the ceramic didn't come out to wash it.  I was all ready to use it to make this Beef Stroganoff when I discovered it wasn't working.  I think I must have gotten the cord a little too wet one to many times while washing it and it died.  It was a sad, sad day.

The silver lining in the death of both of my crock pots was that I (naturally) had to buy a new one.  I headed straight to the store minutes after the second one broke so I could continue making this recipe!  It's silver and shiny and beautiful!  I hope to share many recipes with it over the years.  Do you have a crock pot?  If not, you're missing out on one of the key items that'll make your busy life more manageable...and delicious!


Ingredients

• 1½ lbs beef, trimmed and cut into ½ inch cubes (chuck steak or sirloin steak work well.  You can also look for pre-cut stew meat.)
• 8 oz white mushrooms, cleaned with stems trimmed, then quartered
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup beef broth (I always use low sodium broth)
• ½ cup white wine (don't use anything you wouldn't drink!)
• ¼ cup soy sauce, split (I always buy low sodium on this one, too)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• egg noodles
• chopped parsley (optional)

Instructions

1. Combine the beef, mushrooms, onions tomato paste, broth, wine an 3 tbsp of the soy sauce in your slow cooker.  Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6 hours.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, remaining 1 tbsp of soy sauce, cornstarch and black pepper.  Whisk that into the meat mixture and continue to cook an additonal 30-45 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened.  
3. Serve over cooked egg noodles and garnish with chopped parsley if you're feeling fancy!

Notes

• Source:  Adapted from a recipe found in Cooking Light magazine.