2017-1-26 Ground Beef Stroganoff (approx. 30 min. prep to eat) (approx. 2-1/2 (?) qts.)

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Ingredients:
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4 hamburger patties (or 1 lb. ground beef)
2-4 tbsp. oil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3 lg portabello mushroom caps
1/2 lg sweet onion cut into 1" chunks
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. rosemary
2 tbsp. gravy master (I cooked, but didn't brown, the ground beef)
a dash or two of paprika
12 oz. package of Pennsylvania Dutch extra-wide egg noodles
4 cups water hot from the tap
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flour for thickening (maybe not, see notes)
8 oz. Breakstone's sour cream (maybe not, see notes)

Directions:
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Pot on sautee. Add oil. When hot, add ground beef and cook till done. Add all other ingredients except for flour and sour cream. These latter two will be added after cooking is complete.

manual, high, 5 min., quick release

Add flour to thicken and stir in sour cream.

Notes:
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Beef: 1 lb. (four patties) I weighed myself on the scale with and without the meat to arrive at the weight. ha ha - That seemed to be plenty of beef. I wouldn't be afraid to make it with 3 patties.

Water:
1) I added the noodles and water last; the noodles on top of the other ingredients, and then measured the water as I poured it over the noodles. Other recipes I've seen recommended covering the noodles with water, however, I was afraid of using too much water (I didn't want beef noodle soup) since there was already at least a half a cup of liquid from cooking the ground beef. I stopped after 4 cups with the top layer of dry noodles still exposed. As it turned out, I could have put the meal in front of company.
2) I used hot water again to cut back on cooking time and again it seemed to work.

Vegetables: I don't think it will change the flavor too much if I stir in some peas and carrots - I miss my veggies. Note: add some frozen peas to shopping list.

Mushrooms: At the last second I decided not to add the mushrooms. They'd been in the freezer for ages and had a vague smell, I thought, of freezer-burn. I didn't want to take any chances and left them out this time. I don't know what kind of mushrooms you're supposed to use in this recipe, Portabello is a personal preference.

Noodles: I have to say, that during my reading early on about cooking pasta, I ran into the advice that pasta should be cooked at half the time that is indicated on the package for stove top. For example, on this package of egg noodles the directions say to cook "8-9 minutes or until desired tenderness". That means the noodles should be cooked for 4 to 4-1/2 min. Since I prefer my noodles soft, I chose 5 min. and they came out perfectly. The suggestion of halving the cooking time hasn't failed me yet.

Flour and sour cream: I don't know how much flour I used. I added a little and I should have left it at that but the gravy seemed watery and I wanted more body. Unfortunately I forgot about the sour cream. Next time either I thicken the gravy and use less sour cream, or I don't add flour and use the 8 oz. sour cream.

Another note: Ground beef is faster than beef cubes, for obvious reasons. Had I used beef cubes I would have had to cook the noodles separately. By being able to cook the noodles in the same pot it saves me the bother of the extra step of cooking noodles, never mind the clean up of an extra pot, colander, etc.

Ground beef is how I'm used to making this and some other one dish meals with noodles in the same time frame, 30 min. - for some a little more and others a little less. I used to put the noodles on the stove and while they were boiling (about 20 min.) I'd brown the beef and make the gravy in the pan. When the noodles were done it was a simple matter to drain them and pour the beef/gravy mixture over top. Again, since it seems I've got the noodle/water ratio down pat, I can make this and similar dishes in one pot and save on the clean up chore.