Foodie Friday - Easy Mushroom Stroganoff

I have to say I've never been bored whilst I've been a vegetarian, yes I've struggled a bit in certain countries but overall I can normally find a wide variety of things to eat. One of the earliest memories of eating out as a veggie was eating a vegetable stroganoff, this used to be a really popular meal on pub menus but it does seem to have disappeared a bit in recent years. You can get all different types of stroganoffs, beef, vegetable and my personal favourite mushroom but they are are based on the same theme something in a creamy type sauce. The first mushroom stroganoff I ever made was from an amazing vegetarian recipe book The Classic 1000 Vegetarian Recipes by Carolyn Humphries. I would thoroughly recommend this book if your a new veggie and you love cooking this book contains pretty much everything you can think of without relying on a lot of processed food and a lot of meat alternatives. The original recipe wasn't great on the pocket or the waistline though as it contained a lot of cream!, all be it soured slightly with the addition of lemon juice, so I needed another option. Thankfully I found it in another of Carolyn Humpries books, The New Students Veggie Cook Book. This is another fabulous book for new veggies or even for those cooking on a budget, everything is really simple to make, it uses a lot of store cupboard ingredients, and the majority of recipes are cheap to make. This book also contained a mushroom stroganoff recipe but this time something slightly kinder on the wallet and the waistline. This is the recipe that main is based on and it's so yummy I thought I'd share it with you x

Mushroom Stroganoff

2oz Butter or Margarine

1 Large Onion

3 Cloves Garlic - Finely Chopped Or Crushed

3lbs Mushrooms 

100ml White Wine

1 tbs Cornflour

300ml Natural Yoghurt

Salt and Pepper To Taste

1. Put the butter or margarine into a large cold pan and add the garlic and cook over a low heat. I prefer to use butter it gives a much better flavour.

In the meantime roughly chop your onion

and clean and chop your mushrooms either in to halves or quarters depending on the size. This would also be  fab with mini button mushrooms

2. After a couple of minutes the fat should be melted and the garlic should be starting to soften

Add the onions and cook over a slightly higher heat for about 5-10 minutes

3. When the onion are soft and translucent like this

add your mushrooms, your might struggle to get them all in but they will cook down so don't worry.

I often find it easier to pop a lid on.

4. After about 20 minutes to half an hour the mushrooms should be soft and just about cooked x

At this point measure out your wine, it's always best to use something your would drink, I'm using a Pinot Grigio here but anything will do, I even made this with leftover red wine and it was just as good although the colour was a little bit odd ;) If you don't want to use alcohol then leave it out, it isn't essential but it does add a bit of extra richness.

If your using the wine add it to the mushrooms. Mushrooms contain a lot water so what you want to do now is reduce the amount of liquid in the the pan, it doesn't matter if there is a little bit there tho, you can never get rid of all of it 

5. In the meantime mix the cornflour with a little bit of water (or you can use some liquid from the mushroom mix), you want it to be quite liquidy

Then measure out your yogurt, I'm trying to claw back some calories here so I'm using low fat natural Easi Yo but you can use whatever you like, or even a single or double cream and a dash of lemon juice.

Then add them both to the pan, and mix well.

I will look as if it's curdling but don't panic, just keep stirring over a medium heat 

6. Then leave it for 10 minutes or so until its thickened and darker in colour, season with salt and pepper to taste

and serve with anything you like, from rice, pasta, to a jacket potato or crusty bread and a salad - showing off here with my rice timbales ;) and if you like serve with a nice glass of the wine you used to make your stroganoff :)

This recipe will easily serve 4 people or 2 with leftovers. It keeps really well in the fridge for a few days as long as it's covered up. You might need to add a little bit more liquid when you heat it up though. Here I've mixed it in to some freshly cooked pasta and served it with some salad :)

If your a veggie or even if your not this is a great recipe that looks really impressive but is actually really simple to make x If you have any questions please leave me a comment I love reading what you have to say xx