Classic Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients

• 500 g beef sirloin or rump steak, cut into thin strips against the grain
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 200 ml beef stock
• 250 g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 150 g sour cream
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 x 250g pre-cooked rice pouches
• 20 g fresh parsley, roughly chopped
• Crusty sourdough bread, to serve
• Dressed green salad, to serve

Method

1. Pat the beef strips dry on kitchen paper and season generously with salt and black pepper — water means steam, and steam means no browning. Heat the olive oil in a wide stainless or cast iron pan over very high heat until it shimmers and just begins to smoke.
2. Sear the beef in two batches, 1–2 minutes a batch, until browned outside but still a little pink in the middle. Don't crowd the pan — all at once and the meat boils in its own juices instead of taking on colour. Lift onto a plate to rest, juices and all.
3. Drop the heat to medium-high and add the butter to the same pan — those brown stuck bits are flavour, leave them. Add the onion along with both the sliced and finely chopped mushrooms. Cook for 5–6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until everything is deep golden and the moisture has cooked off. Listen for the sizzle to sharpen — that's the water gone.
4. Add the garlic and smoked paprika and bloom them in the fat for 30–60 seconds until fragrant. Watch the garlic — pale gold only, don't let it burn or the whole sauce turns bitter. Raw paprika tastes dusty; bloomed paprika tastes of itself.
5. Stir in the Dijon mustard and the lentils, then pour in the beef stock, scraping up the fond from the base of the pan. Simmer for 4–5 minutes until the sauce has reduced by about a third and coats the back of a spoon.
6. Pull the pan completely off the heat — this bit is critical. Stir in the soured cream off the heat; any hotter and it splits into grainy curds. Taste, season, taste again — adjust salt and pepper now, not at the table.
7. Return the beef and every drop of resting juice to the pan and fold gently for 1 minute to warm through. The sauce should be glossy and paprika-stained, clinging to each strip.
8. Heat the rice pouches to pack instructions. Spoon the rice onto warm plates, ladle the stroganoff over the top, and finish with a generous scatter of chopped parsley.