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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
