Rich Mushroom Stroganoff

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 700 g mixed mushrooms, thickly sliced
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 300 ml hot vegetable stock
• 25 g unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 150 g soured cream
• 15 g parsley, roughly chopped
• 350 g dried egg noodles
• Salt and black pepper

Method

1. Use plenty of water and bring it to a strong boil. Drop in the egg noodles and cook to packet time until just tender, then drain and keep warm with a little of their water clinging on.
2. Pat the mushrooms dry on kitchen paper. Heat the butter and olive oil in a wide stainless or cast iron pan over a medium-high heat until the butter foams and quietens.
3. Sear the mushrooms in two or three batches, cut-side down, in a single layer. Don't crowd the pan; pile them all in at once and they'll sweat in their own water instead of taking on that deep golden edge. Three to four minutes a batch, season each one with salt as it goes, then tip onto a plate.
4. Drop the heat to medium, add a touch more oil if the pan looks dry, and slide in the onion with a pinch of salt. Cook for 6–8 minutes until soft, sweet and just starting to catch at the edges. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, no more; until fragrant and pale gold.
5. Stir in the smoked paprika and let it toast in the buttery oil for 30–60 seconds until fragrant and deepened in colour.
6. Sprinkle the flour over and stir for a minute to cook out the rawness. Pour in the hot stock a splash at a time, scraping up the browned bits stuck to the base. Stir in the soy sauce and Dijon. The sauce will thicken and turn glossy within 2 minutes, coating the back of a spoon.
7. Return the mushrooms and any resting juices to the pan and simmer for 3–4 minutes until the sauce clings. Pull the pan off the heat; soured cream splits if you boil it; and stir in the soured cream until silky. Fold through most of the parsley.
8. Pile the noodles into warm bowls, spoon the stroganoff and all its glossy sauce over the top, and finish with the reserved parsley and a crack of black pepper.