Beef Stroganoff (via Julie Goodwin)

I have already posted a beef stroganoff recipe, but I recently came across this version by Julie Goodwin, which with a slight reduction to the amount of tomato, and increase in the amount of mushrooms, produces a marginally superior result. I really like the flour-fried steak, even though it's a little more fiddly. I took her advice and used round steak, and I think this would also work well with skirt. Both need to be run through a tenderizer (ask your butcher), and benefit from being part-frozen (takes about an hour) and then sliced using a very sharp knife. These cuts are cheaper and tastier than the rump or fillet I suggest using in my previous post.

Ingredients

• 1 kg round or skirt steak, trimmed and sliced very thinly (see above)
• 1/3 cup plain flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp ground (white, if you have it) pepper
• 2 tsp smoked sweet paprika
• 500g (button, if you like) mushrooms, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• ½ cup beef stock 
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 300ml sour cream

In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, pepper and paprika.  Toss the beef strips thoroughly through the mixture. In a large, non-stick frying pan, heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil over high heat until it is just smoking.  Place half of the beef mixture into the pan and toss for 2 minutes until it is golden brown. If you have time, fry the beef in batches without overcrowding the pan, in order to get more tasty crispy bits and not have the beef stick together. If you're in a rush you can use a bit more oil and use a spatula to separate the beef, as long as it's not ALL lying on top of itself.

Reduce the heat to medium high.  Place the last of the oil in the pan and sauté the mushrooms and garlic until softened.  Add tomato paste and stir for a further minute.  Add stock, Worcestershire sauce and sour cream to the pan.  Return the beef and stir for a minute or two until well combined and warmed through.

Serve with pasta or rice, and steamed green beans or broccoli.