If you are lucky enough to have garden fresh green beans on hand, the "Green Bean & Mushroom Stroganoff" (page 327) is a wonderful way to prepare them. Cooked green beans are combined with sautéed mushrooms and onions (I omitted the oil, and just allowed the onions and mushrooms to release their own juices in my non-stick skillet), simmered in broth and wine, thickened with tomato paste and flour, and made rich with the addition of vegan sour cream. In this recipe, as in most recipes where a sauce is made in a skillet with sautéed veggies, flour is stirred into the mix, and some sort of liquid is slowly stirred in until the flour-veggie-liquid mixture is smooth. However, I have found this methodology doesn't work well in the absence of fat. The flour will not dissolve into the veggies and I end up with a lumpy sauce at the end. To get around this, I have started putting the liquid ingredients plus the flour into a blender and processing just long enough to combine, then adding that back into the skillet for the cooking and thickening. I've had excellent results doing this. For this recipe, I combined the broth, tomato paste, and flour in the blender, then added this back to the sautéed onions and mushrooms, then proceeded with the rest of the recipe as written. This worked out great, and the final sauce was smooth and delicious. I served this over wide noodles with steamed spinach on the side.Monday, August 13, 2012
Green Bean & Mushroom Stroganoff
If you are lucky enough to have garden fresh green beans on hand, the "Green Bean & Mushroom Stroganoff" (page 327) is a wonderful way to prepare them. Cooked green beans are combined with sautéed mushrooms and onions (I omitted the oil, and just allowed the onions and mushrooms to release their own juices in my non-stick skillet), simmered in broth and wine, thickened with tomato paste and flour, and made rich with the addition of vegan sour cream. In this recipe, as in most recipes where a sauce is made in a skillet with sautéed veggies, flour is stirred into the mix, and some sort of liquid is slowly stirred in until the flour-veggie-liquid mixture is smooth. However, I have found this methodology doesn't work well in the absence of fat. The flour will not dissolve into the veggies and I end up with a lumpy sauce at the end. To get around this, I have started putting the liquid ingredients plus the flour into a blender and processing just long enough to combine, then adding that back into the skillet for the cooking and thickening. I've had excellent results doing this. For this recipe, I combined the broth, tomato paste, and flour in the blender, then added this back to the sautéed onions and mushrooms, then proceeded with the rest of the recipe as written. This worked out great, and the final sauce was smooth and delicious. I served this over wide noodles with steamed spinach on the side.
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how lucky am i to have stumbled upon your blog?! i ma a huge fan of robin robertson.
ReplyDeletei founded a group on flickr where we can share photos of her recipes, i'd love for you to join our group and share some of your favorite recipe photos!
http://www.flickr.com/groups/2049161@N22/
Hi BookWormBethie! I'm glad you found my blog - thanks for stopping by commenting, I really appreciat that. I checked out your group on Flickr, what great shots you've taken. It will be fun to compare our pictures as we try the same dishes. :)
ReplyDeletep.s. i also wonder if a cornstarch slurry would help? maybe 1 tsp of cornstarch into 1 tbs of water, and then add to the skillet to thicken things up? then you don't have to wash your blender ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking a cornstarch slurry would be another alternative to the oil-and-flour-based roux in recipes like this. Definitely worth a try! Let me know if you try it, and how it turns out. A bonus would be not having to wash your blender, that's for sure! :)
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