I went to see the Storganoff Collection when it was at the Art Gallery, and wow, what a collection. Knowing that this was just a tiny sample of the vast amount of treasures the family actually held before the revolution was mind boggling, even scrabbling. Though perhaps not as fantastic as when I was in Russia a few years later wandering around St. Petersburg looking at the palaces that the collection came from. How many palaces does one family need? The answer: “Lots”.
I have studied the style of the Romanoff’s and their Imperial court since I was a wee bairn. Completely fascinated by all the glitter and the gold and of course the horrible tragedy (Depending on your point of view) of the Imperial family’s eventual fall from grace and sordid, swift and very sloppy execution in the basement of a small house in Yekaterinburg, (I saw the pictures, looked like someone got taco juice all over those walls).
I could not help thinking to myself “What about Beef Stroganoff?” Sure, here there were some great big wazzoking gilt sculptures, man sized vases of malachite and other semi precious stones with bare bosomed golden nymphs holding up the sides, and a couple of paintings whose frames could fetch a bob or too. But where’s the beef?
Maybe in the security guards lunch? No it was chicken salad with pickles I checked. Maybe it was hiding behind the chicken with Lord Lucan and Pauli Shore’s career?
No beef? How could you have a Stroganoff exhibition without Beef Stroganoff? It’s like having an Andy Warhol exhibit without including the line drawing of a “Proper Table Setting for a Formal Dinner” that he executed for Amy Vanderbilt’s Complete Cook Book in 1960!
Of course when I asked the lady giving the guided tour where the beef was, she asked me if I was taking the pi$$. Then with the aid of two rather burly men politely asked me to leave, and dumped me outside the museum on my tuffet! (Side note, when people say “kiester” I just want to slap them, over and over again, just FYI). Well honestly, some people have no sense of humor or direction, or smell…
To continue this beefless saga, here is a beefless Stroganoff. Full of fungusy mushroomary yumness very good and filling, and guess what? It’s gluten free too! Can you beat that with a stick? Well maybe but it better be a big stick, I;m an American and I have the right to Bear Arms, though I think it is kind of cruel, won't the bear miss thier arms? How are they going to scoop up salmon and gorge themselves on the liver and entrails of the migrating fish if they do't have arms? Perhaps I have misinterprated this law (I wouldn't be the first one). Onwards and upwards in the meantime; mushy-roomies in the manner named after the Princes Stroganoff.
Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons of butter
2 Onions chopped
1 ½ Pounds of mushrooms
2 Tablespoons of mustard
2 Cups of sour cream
2 Teaspoons of mustard powder
1 Teaspoon of Salt
½ Teaspoon of black pepper
A dash of Worcestershire sauce (Optional)
1 Tablespoon of fresh dill or 1 teaspoon of dried dill
Matchsticks or Egg noodles to serve.
Method:
Heat the butter and add the onions, sauté until transparent, add the mushrooms and continue cooking till mushrooms are lightly browned. Add the flour and mustard powder, cook for two minutes stirring constantly. Then add the sour cream stir well and cook till thickened about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and season with salt pepper and dill (Add Worcestershire sauce is using), serve over baked matchstick potatoes or cooked egg noodles, garnished with a little dill.
A fun note about Beef or any other Stroganoff; I had always heard of the family and the collections that for much of my life were inaccessible behind the iron curtain. I did not experience a dish in the "Stroganoff" manner until I had joined the United States Navy. Even as horrble as any Naval cook can make any food, the Stroganoff was one of the only edible things that came out of the galley.
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