Mushroom Stroganoff
Mushrooms browned hard in three batches, then a paprika and mustard sauce finished with cashew cream. The sourness that dairy would bring comes from lemon and a good deal of mustard instead.
Photograph credit: mushroom stroganoff at noodles & co in crystal city by rhettigan · CC BY 2.0 · Flickr
Soured cream does two things in a stroganoff — richness and acidity — and a substitute has to supply both or the dish tastes flat. Blended cashews give the body; lemon juice and Dijon give the sourness, and the quantities look excessive until you taste it without them. The mushrooms are browned in three batches rather than one because a crowded pan drops below the temperature at which browning happens, and browning is the entire flavour base here.
Mushroom Stroganoff: Step by Step
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Drain the soaked cashews and blend with the 150 ml of water until completely smooth. Set aside.
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Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large frying pan over high heat and brown a third of the mushrooms, 4 minutes, without stirring much. Tip out and repeat twice more with more oil.
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Add the last tablespoon of oil and cook the onions over medium heat for 10 minutes until soft and golden.
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Add the garlic for 1 minute, then take the pan off the heat and stir in both paprikas — off the heat, so they bloom without burning.
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Return to a low heat, stir in the flour and cook 90 seconds.
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Pour in the wine and let it bubble 2 minutes, scraping the base, then add the stock a third at a time, stirring smooth.
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Return the mushrooms with the mustard and soy sauce and simmer 8 minutes until the sauce coats a spoon.
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Meanwhile cook the pasta to 1 minute short of the packet time and drain, keeping a mugful of water.
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Take the sauce off the heat and stir in the cashew cream, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Do not boil it after this point.
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Fold through the drained pasta with a splash of its water, then the dill and parsley.
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Worth Getting Right
- Three batches of mushrooms. One crowded pan gives grey mushrooms and a thin sauce.
- Paprika off the heat, as always.
- Do not boil after the cashew cream goes in — it splits and turns grainy.
Swaps and Variations
- An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
- A dry vermouth keeps for longer than an open bottle of white wine and is the closer swap than a random white left in the fridge; for an alcohol-free version, use the same amount of stock with a squeeze of lemon.
What to Serve With It
A green salad with a sharp dressing · A glass of Pinot Noir · Pickled cucumbers
Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Vinegret, Olivier Salad.
Storage
Refrigerated for 3 days. Reheat gently without boiling, loosening with water.
The Numbers per Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. The calories include 4 g of alcohol a serving, which is not part of the protein, carbohydrate or fat. How the figures are worked out.
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .