Beat the Quarantine Boredom with Cooking – Beef Stroganoff Recipe

2020 has been very tough on people around the world. It started with wildfires, a possible world war, revolutions, and now we are facing a pandemic. For the sake of saving the old and the sick, please stay home and stay safe.

Isolation and Quarantine can cause all kind of anxiety that can result in depression. If you are staying with your family, please don’t isolate yourself in your room, create activities that will help you bond with them. We should be positive, and consider this a phase where we can take a break from all the work-life stress, and reconnect with our close and loved ones.

Some Ideas to spend time with family:

- Game Night: Scrabble, Jenga, Taboo, Monopoly, Mafia

- Movie Night

- Reading Books

- Sudoku,Puzzle

- Grow your garden and plants with the kids

- Cooking

For me, I can spend hours in the kitchen cooking to kill time. Cooking is a warm activity that can gather families around and let them appreciate good times together. Even if you are living alone like myself, facetime your loved ones while cooking so you can both share what you are doing. (This is something me and my sister do all the time when we are both cooking).

Another reason for you to cook this week, is that Mother’s Day is around the corner. This act of kindness will show how much you (son / daughter / husband / friend) appreciate and respect her role as a mom.

So, this week I will be sharing a main dish: Beef Stroganoff is originated from Russia and it is known as a mix of sautéed pieces of beef served in sauce of heavy cream and mustard.

This same dish can be cooked in different variations: chicken or sausage Stroganoff.

Ingredients:

- 1/2 Kilo of Beef Tenderloin cut in long stripes

- 1 box of white fresh mushroom

- 3 Carrots

- 3 Bell Peppers / You can go with all green or you can mix it with yellow and red

- 1 Medium Onion Chopped

- 2 tablespoon of mustard

- 1 tablespoon of Dijon Mustard

- 500 ml of light cooking cream

- Salt, Black Pepper and Nutmeg Powder

For the Rice, you will need:

- 1 cup of Basmati Rice soaked in water for 30 minutes

- Salt and Butter

Directions:

- In a medium heated pot, pour some olive oil and add the chopped onions. Let it simmer till cooked

- Add the Beef Tenderloin, salt, pepper, nutmeg. Stir the beef with onions every couple of minutes. Let it cook for around 30 minutes. If you see that the beef is sticking to the pot, add half cup of water and cover it to let it simmer.

- Chop the mushrooms in half, the carrots in quarter, the bell pepper in medium long stripes (see the picture above).

- Add the vegetables mix into the same pot as the beef, season with salt and pepper, add half cup of water, Cover it. Let it cook for another 30 minutes or till the carrots are cooked (because the carrots take more time to cook than bell pepper and mushroom). And of Course, you stir every couple of minutes.

- Once the vegetables are well cooked (have a taste of the mix if you are not sure if its cooked). Add the mustard and the dijon, stir it, let it simmer for a couple of minutes then add the light cooking cream. Let it simmer for 5 minutes et Voilà.

For the Rice:

- On low heat, add the rice to the pot with some olive oil. Season it with salt, Stir and then cover with water (If this the first time you cook rice, I never measure the number of cups of water for rice, I can only estimate. But one way to do it is to add water, till the water level is around 2 cm above the rice level. And if didn't cook with the water enough, you can add some water at the end. You will get it after all).

- Another trick that I do when I cook rice if you have an oven with gas not electric (which I learned from my mom), is that I don't turn the heat to low (clockwise), I turn it anti-clockwise (as you are turning it off) and regulate it to have literally a small flame. My aunt once told me, a rice needs to be cooked over a flame of a candle.

- Once cooked, (you can taste to see if cooked or not), you can add one tablespoon of butter on top (Don't mix it with the butter, just leave the butter melt on top of the rice).

- If you are looking over your weight, don't add light cream to the beef and don't add butter to the rice. It will still be a good dish to have. This is the variation I cook for my dad.

- You can create the same dish with chicken or sausage.

Bon Appétit!