Post by jemist101 on Jan 11th, 2015 at 9:20pm
Here's a quick and easy stroganoff recipe, which I've put together this weekend for a camping trip. Was using a a small Cousances No. 6 cast iron pot (Cousances was Le Creuset before Le Creuset) - perfect size for 2-3 servings. The following recipe is for 2-3 generous servings.
INGREDIENTS
500g Pork (traditionally beef - but can be used with chicken and pork), for this weekend I used some collar scotch / butt
1/2 an onion
2 cloves of garlic
2-3 stalks of spring onion
A handful of mushrooms
2 small roma tomatoes
2 small sprigs of rosemary
1 small handful of chopped coriander or parsley
2 generous tbsp of dijon mustard
1/2 bottle of beer
1 cup of milk
2 tbsp olive oil
juice of half a lemon (or 1 tbsp of concentrated lemon juice)
1 generous tbsp of ghee (clarified butter)
Roughly chop your onions, garlic and mushroom. Place into your pot.
Roughly chop your spring onion and tomatoes.
I'm using pork collar scotch / butt this time around. Traditionally, stroganoff is a beef dish, but I quite like the softer texture and richer sauce of pork. If you were to substitute cream in this recipe, I'd recommend using beef, as the combination of pork and cream can be quite rich.
Add your roughly sliced pork (pieces were about 1.5-2.5cm chunks, I like to keep them not quite uniform to maintain some rustic quality to the dish), rosemary, and mustard.
Add milk, lemon juice and beer.
The beer used in this example is Coopers Sparkling Ale - I'd recommend any tasty beer sitting around the IPAs and Lagers, stay away from anything not hoppy (won't add much to the flavour) or anything too dark (sauce may be a bit too rich).
Place on the fire. Keep covered.
*we were running out of time, so the fire here isn't the optimal fire I'd like to be cooking on, but the rains were heading our way. Glowing coals rather than licking flames would be better, but alas.
Keep covered, return to stir every 10-15 minutes.
Ensure that there's a decent amount of liquid in the pot - you should be able to see the various ingredients during the cooking process, if you can't, then you're using too much liquid.
The taste of stroganoff should be creamy and mustardy - the tomato is simply to add tang and colour, but shouldn't be overpowering. The rosemary should add some sweetness to the scent and depth in the flavour. I personally like having my stroganoff on the peppery side of things. Don't ever skimp on the seasonings.
When the sauce is reduced by about 1/3rd (should take about 30-40 minutes, pending on your fire), place your cover half on the pot until liquid reduces to about half of the original volume. Add ghee, and season to taste.
Remove from fire, let cool and rest. Dress and finish with coriander or parsley.
Best served with bread, noodles or rice.
...and here's a kangaroo mob. Great weekend camping in the rain at Namadgi National Park.