When I was growing up in Kentucky, we had a brand of boxed dinner kits called Hamburger Helper that offered ingredients for a meal you can make by adding only a pound of ground (minced) beef and water. It was very processed, the sauce mix was powdered and it probably didn’t provide too much in the way of nutrition, but it was incredibly delicious. In 80’s & 90’s America, these types of convenience foods gave us a level of variety that we couldn’t really get otherwise in a small town. We could taste new things, even if they were terribly inauthentic. My favourite Hamburger Helper meal was the Beef Stroganoff.
After living abroad for a few years, like many people I started to crave some of my favourite comfort foods from home. I needed to find a hack for how to make this myself and Creamy Hamburger Stroganoff has been part of the regular dinner rotation at my house ever since. I must admit, it’s pretty close to what I remember so I’m totally satisfied with the result!
My Creamy Hamburger Stroganoff is not authentic Beef Stroganoff in the slightest, but it tastes so good. The recipe is super easy to make, uses ingredients that can be found anywhere, doesn’t take much time at all and is a nice weekday dinner that’s not too difficult to put together after a hard day of work. It also makes a nice lunch the next day for warming up in the microwave, if you’re lucky enough to have leftovers.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons garlic oil
- 500g beef mince
- 2x beef stock pots (or beef stock cubes crumbled)
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 300ml sour cream
- 150ml boiling water from a freshly boiled kettle
- Small bunch of dill, finely chopped
- 500g fusilli pasta (or other short pasta of your choice)
Method
- Put a large saucepan of salted water with a drop of oil on to boil for the pasta.
- In a large casserole or saucepan that will fit everything later, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the beef and season it with salt & pepper. Brown the meat while using a wooden spoon to break it up as it cooks.
- When the meat is browned and no longer showing signs of pink, stir in the stock pots and Worcestershire sauce, allowing it to all melt into the pan and coat the beef.
- Add the sour cream, boiling water and a very generous grinding of black pepper. Stir and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or so until starting to thicken.
- During this time, cook your pasta according to instructions. Make sure to check it a minute or two before the end of the suggested cooking time to get the consistency you desire. When the pasta is cooked, reserve a cup of the starchy cooking water and strain it.
- When the sauce has thickened a bit and the pasta is ready, add it to the casserole and toss it in the sauce. Add some of the pasta cooking water, one tablespoon at a time to help the sauce cling to the pasta. Toss & stir until it’s all coated and combined.
- To serve, spoon it into bowls or onto plates and sprinkle some finely chopped dill over the Stroganoff from a height. Serve hot.
