Beef Stroganoff over Mashed Potatoes

The week of Rachael Ray recipes continues tonight with Beef and Potato Stroganoff from Everyday with Rachael Ray:



... it might not look anything like the photo from the recipe, but it tasted great.

I made a few modifications to the original recipe, mainly in the presentation. Two weeks ago I bought a 5-pound bag of potatoes because they were on sale. The potatoes in those bags are always small, so cutting them open and trying to stuff the beef mixture inside would not have worked. But since I already had plenty of potatoes at home I couldn't justify buying large potatoes just for this recipe. So instead, I served the beef mixture over the mashed potatoes, which worked out well since the potatoes were perfect for sopping up all the delicious sauce.

And speaking of the sauce, SP and I decided to try an experiment this week by buying half-and-half instead of the heavy cream the recipe called. Half-and-half was half the price of the heavy cream and SP remembered that when he worked at a restaurant as a teenager, the chef would substitute half-and-half for heavy cream in some of the dishes. For this recipe, the substitution didn't really work. The sauce was too loose and I had to add some sour cream in an attempt to thicken it up.

It wasn't pretty, but the most important thing is that it tasted good. Here's the original recipe. Below is my modified version.

Beef and Potato Stroganoff
Slightly Adapted From Everyday with Rachael Ray

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound sliced mushrooms
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 pound lean ground beef, crumbled
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
Chopped parsley, for garnish

In a large skillet, heat the butter over medium-high heat, add the mushrooms, onion and garlic and cook about 10 minutes. Stir in 3/4 cup water and boil to reduce the liquid by half, about 2 minutes. Stir in the half-and-half and sour cream and remove from heat.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, brown the ground beef over high heat, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to the mushroom mixture; season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve the beef mixture over mashed potatoes, garnished with parsley.