Mushroom stroganoff (Mushrooms à la Stroganov)

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Well, here it is, my first foray into the world of blogging... Hello reader, and welcome to my blog, which (I hope) is going to be full of all things food-related, mostly recipes, mostly healthy, and hopefully, wholly delicious!

So, I shall start as I mean to go on, with a recipe. A very healthy, low calorie recipe, which has proved very popular in my recipe group, and other groups I've posted it in - not one person yet has disliked it (that I know of!) - and as well as being low calorie (and of course, delicious), it's also very easy to make, and you can tweak it to suit you.

My style of writing up recipes includes calorie counts for each ingredient, (which I source from the most accurate place I can, often comparing different suppliers nutritional information, rather than using one of the databases compiled by various different users available on the internet, which I have found to be highly innacurate) so that you, the potential user can chop and change as you wish, and amend the calorie counts. That's if you count calories. If you just want some healthy, tasty food then you can ignore all the numbers, throw in a knob of butter, or splash of cream if you want to dirty it up, and enjoy!

Without further ado, here is my recipe for...

Mushrooms à la Stroganov

A very tasty, incredibly low calorie meal, packed full of flavour which tastes much more creamy and indulgent than it really is! I use full fat Greek yoghurt to make mine to cut the calories but keep the flavour, and with a generous serving of cauliflower rice it comes to a mere 242 calories for a large and filling dish full of tasty food! Disclaimer - please note, the above photo of it is a single serving in a bijoux little mini-pot - not 2 litres of the stuff with enormous mushrooms and giant parsley! ;)

Edit - for the Thermomix version of this recipe, go here.


Serves 2, calories per serving:  
If using 0% fat Greek yoghurt   -  135
If using full fat Greek yogurt*  -  147
If using half fat crème fraiche  -  169

*I use Total Greek yoghurt

To make it into a full low calorie meal, serve with 250g cauliflower florets per person, whizzed up in a food processor into ‘cauliflower rice’ and microwaved, or dry-fried with a pinch of salt for a couple of minutes until tender.  This is only 95 calories per serving. Or you could serve with 250g courgette noodles/ribbons per person for 45 calories per serving. If you want a carb fix with grain rice, then a 60g (uncooked portion) is around 200 calories, or you could even serve it with a nice, flat, ribbon pasta. Make sure you’re using sweet/mild paprika (especially the smoked variety) or this might pack more of a punch than you’re expecting! [Calories in square brackets if you want to substitute or omit anything]

Ingredients

• 300g mushrooms, sliced about ½cm thick (a mixture of your favourites - if you want more, up it to 400g and add an extra 8 calories per serving) [48]
• 1 large onion, halved then sliced, or chopped if you prefer (about 120g) [49]
• ½ tsp butter [18]
• 150ml beef stock/boullion (or vegetarian alternative) [8]
• 4 tbsp (60ml) half fat crème fraiche OR greek yoghurt (full fat, or 0%) [102 / 58 / 34]
• 2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley [2]
• Salt (to taste)

Sauce/seasoning ingredients
(add/mix together in a bowl)

• 3 garlic cloves, crushed [18]
• ½ tbsp mustard powder (or use English or French mustard) [15]
• ½ tbsp paprika (sweet/mild) [9]
• 1 tsp smoked paprika (sweet/mild, or just use another teaspoon of normal paprika) [6]
• Freshly ground black pepper (plenty!) [5]
• 2 tbsp dry white wine (or 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar) [25]
• 1 tbsp tomato puree [15]
• 1 tbsp Worcester sauce (or vegetarian alternative, some Worcester sauce is not gluten free, some is - although this seems to also change within the same brand - so check the bottle, just in case!) [17]
• Sprinkle/pinch of cayenne pepper, to taste (e.g. ¼ tsp, or less) [1]

Method

1. Mix all the sauce/seasoning ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

2. Melt the butter in a good non-stick pan over a fairly low heat and add the onions. Fry gently for 3 or 4 minutes until softened, but not browned.

3. Add the mushrooms, and continue to cook over a low heat (you don’t need to stir them continuously if it’s a good non-stick pan, just 3 or 4 times will do) for another 7 or 8 minutes, until they’ve released some of their juices and softened a little.

4. Add the bowl of sauce/seasoning ingredients and the stock, bring the mixture to the boil and simmer for a further 5 minutes or so, to cook out the garlic and other ingredients.

5. Take off the heat and allow to cool for several minutes (or it will curdle when you add the dairy - it will still taste OK, but not look so great. If you're feeling impatient, add 3 ice cubes, and stir in for a minute until thoroughly melted!), beat the yoghurt (if using) briefly with a fork until smooth then stir in the yoghurt (or crème fraiche) and parsley, taste and add salt if required (I add ½ teaspoon for my tastes). Serve immediately and enjoy!