Recipe: Meatball Stroganoff

December 19, 2014

Recipe: Meatball Stroganoff

Stroganoff was something my mom made a lot of...it was fairly inexpensive, filling and not to mention one of our favorite meals. She made it several different ways, but I think one of my favorites was "meatball stroganoff". Small meatballs drenched in yummy sauce...can't go wrong there!

I decided yesterday to re-create this oh so common comfort food. I started out by getting rid of the canned cream of mushroom and making my own, based on this recipe that I used for my homemade green bean casserole, minus the parmesan cheese, but that actually would have been really good. It turned out so good. Served with some roasted asparagus and broccoli and it was a perfect mid-week meal.

Meatball Stroganoff

Meatballs:
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
3-4 Tbs. bread crumbs
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. pepper
salt if you want
1/2-1 tsp. parsley

Mushroom Sauce:

2 Tbs. olive oil
8oz. mushrooms (I used the basic mushroom but you could be creative and use whatever)
3/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
3 c. milk
2 c. half and half
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tbs. chicken bouillon
1 1/2 tsp. italian seasoning
4 1/2 tbs. butter
8 1/2 tbs. flour
3/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp. soy sauce
pinch nutmeg
1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves (I used dried)

Additional ingredients:

1/2-1 c. sour cream
1 Tbs. worcestershire sauce (to taste)
2-3 Tbs. ketchup (optional...my mom never used this but a friend did and it does taste good)

Combine meatball ingredients. Roll in to small balls, maybe 1/2-1" diameter. Here is a great tip for cooking meatballs. No matter what the size, once rolled, place in muffin tins (I have a large mini muffin tin and used that for my small meatballs for this recipe). Place them in a 350 degree oven and cook till done (depends on size of meatballs), but probably anywhere from 15-30 minutes.

While the meatballs cook, prepare your cream of mushroom soup.

1. Add olive oil to the pan along with the mushrooms, a pinch of salt and a pinch of the pepper. Cook until mushrooms are brown. Remove from pan and set aside.

2. In a separate pan, combine milk, half and half, remaining pepper, remaining salt, garlic, bouillon and italian seasoning. Whisk gently to combine. Heat to a gentle simmer.

3. Using your original pan, add butter and melt. Gently stir in flour and stir for 30 seconds or so, then begin slowly adding back in the hot milk, stirring constantly (I like to use a flat whisk when I do this). Continue to whisk being sure to get all the lumps out. Allow to simmer and thicken for another few minutes. Turn off heat.

4. Add back in the reserved mushrooms, grated parmesan cheese, soy sauce, nutmeg and thyme. Stir well. Place soup in a blender container and blend till smooth (or leave a little chunky if you'd like).

Obviously you can use canned soup but the homemade is just so much richer and "healthier" because you know the ingredients that are in it.

Now that you have that all done, cook your noodles. I used mini-bow tie pasta. In a large pan combine 2 c. of the cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, worcestershire sauce and ketchup. Add in the pasta and meatballs and stir to combine. Heat through and serve.