Beef Stroganoff with croquette potatoes

I'm a little behind with my posts, and am spending less time in the kitchen. Busy with a trip to England to prepare, Lizzy's birthday, weekend visits...

So this recipe is a couple of weeks old. The beef Stroganov owes the name to its creator, (and not Strogonov it would appear) and is of course a Russian classic. As for the croquette potatoes, they went down very well with the girls...

Preparation : 1 hour

Cooking : 3 minutes

Ingredients for 4

800 gr lean beef filet

2 tbsp oil

10 gr butter

1 chopped onion

1 tsp mild paprika

10 cl white wine

4 cl veal stock

1/2 tsp concentrated tomato puree

10 cl crème fraîche

Salt and pepper

• Cut the beef into cubes of 1cm. Season with salt, pepper and paprika.
• Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan, and sear the cubes of meat (with should remain rare.)
• Drain,
• Drain, and set aside the beef in a metal bowl.
• Add the tomato concentrate to the veal stock.
• Remove some of the oil from the frying pan, and add the chopped onion.
• Soften for 1 or 2 minutes.
• Deglaze with white wine, and leave to reduce.
• Add the veal stock, and reduce once more.
• Add the drained meat cubes.
• Add the crème fraîche, and reduce for a further 3 minutes.

Croquettes potatoes

Preparation : 1 hour
Refridgerator : 1 hour
Cooking time : 2 minutes per pan
Ingredients
1 kg pototoes (ex. Bintje)
1 whole egg and 3 yolks
1 pinch of ground nutmeg
75 gr butter
100 gr golden breadcrumbs
Plain flour
Salt and pepper

• Peel and wash the potatoes. Cut into small pieces and place in a saucepan of cold water.
• Salt, and cook for 30 minutes on a high heat.
• Drain the potatoes, and press through a mill. Return the mash to a saucepan on a moderate heat, stirring constantly, to evaporate some of the humidity.
• Off the heat, mix in 75 gr of butter and 3 egg yolks to the hot puree, incorporating each one fully before adding the next.
• Season with salt and pepper and the ground nutmeg. Spread the puree into a dish, and leave in the fridge for one hour. This will firm the potato making it easier to handle.
• Flour a board and kneed the potato puree to make it smooth. Take one large spoonful of the mixture and mould it into a cylinder. Do the same with the remainder of the puree.
• Place 100 gr of breadcrumbs onto a plate.
• Beat the whole egg with a pinch of salt.
• Dip each croquette into the beaten egg until completely coated, and then roll in the breadcrumbs.
• Leave to rest for 10 minutes.
• Heat a deep fryer to 170°c. Deep fry the croquettes in this hot but not smoking oil for around 2 minutes.
• Drain the croquettes on absorbant paper.

Keep warm in the oven until serving.