2 x stroganoff

don't make this very often, but in the last 2 weeks, i've made stroganoff twice at home.



the first incident used buffalo meat. my sister and i call it 'buffalaganoff.' clever. we know. but it also used goat's yoghurt. if you've ever had any milk or cheese product from goat, you will know it has a distinct flavor. i call it 'goaty.' this was definitely goaty. not excessively, but enough that i had to eat slowly so as not to overload with the flavor and reap negative benefits from it. but for some reason i'm just weirdly sensitive with the strong/sharp flavors like goat. or brie, or blue cheese. i want so badly to have a mature palate and eat lots of cheeses like brie and blue cheese, but it may sadly take a long time for that to happen.



the second stroganoff occurred today, and i used mushrooms. just mushrooms. i have always (my mother will debate this) hated mushrooms, but recently have enjoyed some really amazing mushroomy eats. like a beef and mushroom soup at Roundel a few months ago, and a mushroom sauce on my steak somewhere else. so i decided to try the mushroom thing at home. last week i made some pizza and did mushrooms on half of it. meh... it was okay, but the other half of the pizza (artichokes and peppers) was much tastier. then today, in my need to be frugal and avoid my grocery-shopping-habit, i used up the rest of the mushrooms and made a stroganoff-type sauce with them. i really enjoyed it, but it would definitely be better with beef or bison WITH the mushrooms.



the basics of stroganoff (as i know it... which doesn't say much, since i've never really followed a recipe completely):
- fry your meat (beef strips, bison strips, or if you are vegetarian, skip this step) and set aside
- saute onions, garlic, mushrooms and brown them (mushrooms are optional. so is garlic i think, but i like garlic)
- add the meat back
- season with salt, pepper. additional options: nutmeg, coriander...
- add your broth or wine (both optional) and sour cream or yoghurt and simmer.
- serve warm on noodles. or rice.