Stroganoff-inspired one-pan dish

Don't you love the name? This is something I made up, and it can be changed around in a lot of ways. But it's a good, easy supper, and it's nice in the fall and winter. It feels very German, and is good with a nice beer alongside.

Before I give you the method, let me describe the dish. It's meat or mushrooms, browned in a pan and then made into a creamy saucy thing to serve over egg noodles. It's made zippier with the addition of mustard, and fresh herbs add freshness and more dimension to the flavour. This is also really good served over spaetzle. You can make them homemade (I use the recipe in Joy of Cooking), but the ones in the box from Maggi are also pretty good (and have no junk in the ingredients).

So, here we go.

Take a frying pan (not non-stick), heat some butter or oil in it. Add to the pan:

• Cut up chicken or pork, or for a veggie option, thick slices of mushrooms (portobello are particularly good for this)
• Onion and garlic
• Salt and pepper
  

Cook until the meat is browned (don't have to be all the way cooked through though). Add a bit of flour to the pan, and stir until the stuff in the pan absorbs the flour and there are no lumps. Deglaze the pan with beer, wine, or stock. Stir until the liquid thickens. Add stock to get more sauce going on. (You might need to add more flour to thicken it right, just take some of the hot liquid out, mix it with the flour, and stir it back in.) You want enough sauce to make this a nice topping for noodles.

Cook this for a bit until the meat is cooked through, and the raw taste of the flour is cooked out. Now add:

• thyme (or any other herbs you want)
  
• a spoon of Dijon mustard (to your taste)

Taste for seasoning, and adjust with more salt and pepper if needed. I find that it still needs a bit of acidity at this point, so I usually add a bit of lemon juice (maybe a teaspoon). Then, to finish the dish, stir in:

• a dollop (or two) of sour cream
• chopped fresh parsley
  

You're done! Spoon over egg noodles or spaetzle and serve.

My partner in crime particularly enjoys this meal served with the following super-easy salad, inspired by one of Tina's dishes:

Put into a bowl:

• sliced radishes
• sliced cucumbers
• red onion, cut up how you like

For the dressing, add to the bowl:

• minced garlic
• dried dill (lots! it always takes more than you think it will need)
• salt and pepper
• a spoon or two of sour cream

Mix it all together. Yum! The salt leaches out some of the liquid from the veggies, and that liquid helps thin out the sour cream and make a nice dressing. It works really well.