Chef D’oeuf and I like to be a little adventurous in our cooking, seeking to supplement the monotony of lockdown life with the variety of cooking dishes from far flung regions across the world. We’ve been to India with our paneer masalas, Malaysia with our rich noodle laksas and Italy with our homemade nonna pastas !

However, there is one destination and dish we keep going back to, and that’s our beloved mushroom stroganoff. 

No one has ever answered the question “what are you having for dinner?” with the answer “mushroom stroganoff” as many times as I have. It’s an unhealthy obsession. Send help. 

It’s often a favourite weeknight or lazy Sunday dish for us because it’s low effort, requires mostly store cupboard ingredients and is very delicious. 

So sit tight, dig out your now dusty passport and join us on a flight to Russia to try our famous mushroom stroganoff!

Sometimes we merge different recipes together to make our stroganoff, but usually we use the following one, halving everything to get two generous servings; https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mushroom_stroganoff_with_83256

First I prepare and chop all of the necessary ingredients; a pack of mixed mushrooms (e.g. shitakes, oysters, chestnuts, portobellos), a garlic clove, and half an onion. Meanwhile Chef D’oeuf is busy doing a fat load of nothing / fighting some bad dudes in a fictional alternate reality game.

Next, Chef D’oeuf proves his worth and starts frying the chopped onions over a gentle heat. Once they’re soft, he adds garlic and fries for a few minutes being careful not to burn them. He adds the melange (nice word I know) of mushrooms and lets that brown.

Then, he adds a small amount of mustard, half a teaspoon of paprika (we use hot paprika, but smoked would probably be better) and ~125ml of vegetable stock. He lets that simmer while he stares intently at it, providing the moral and emotional support the dish so desperately needs to taste so delicious.

In the meantime, I rush around to tidy. I put the salt away – he stills needs the salt. I wash the spoon he uses to stir the stroganoff – he still needs to stir the stroganoff. I start dismantling the electric cooker – he still needs to use the electric cooker. 

Finally, once the stroganoff has had a chance to simmer (5 mins or so) Chef D’oeuf takes it off the heat, adds a few spoons of sour cream, a dash of lemon juice and seasons liberally with salt and pepper. 

We serve with plain rice, a sprinkling of parsley (not too much unless you like your stroganoff to taste like freshly mowed lawn) and sometimes with a side of our favourite roasted broccoli if we feel like a treat. 

Enjoy, but at your own risk as you will forever be the person answering “mushroom stroganoff” when anyone asks you what’s for tea…