Stroganoff, Three Ways

1. Cut meat across the grain into 1/2-inch strips. Cut onion into strips and thickly slice mushrooms. Mince the garlic.

2. Melt butter in a large covered skillet. Add mushrooms and onions and cook until onion is tender. Remove from the skillet (you may need to drain mushrooms and onions through a colander to remove the extra juice, but reserve the juice just in case).

3. In the same skillet, cook meat until light brown. Reserving 1/3 of the broth, stir in remaining broth, ketchup, garlic, Worcestershire, and salt. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes on medium-low heat.

4. Blend reserved broth and flour and stir into the meat. Add the mushrooms and onions. Heat to boiling and stir constantly for at least 2 to 3 minutes.

5. Add sour cream and heat through. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes. At this point, the sauce should be thick and not runny. If the sauce is too thick, add back some of the liquid from the mushrooms and onions. If sauce is still runny, add some flour, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, and simmer with the lid off until thickness is reached.

Kudu instructions: If you’re lucky enough to live somewhere that has fresh kudu tenderloin, follow the directions above. You will find that you will need to drain the kudu once it has cooked before adding the beef broth. Again, reserve the liquid just in case. Impala tenderloin would work beautifully. Any type of venison would work as well—it just may need some trial and error on seasoning and tenderizing.

Vegetarian instructions: Follow the same instructions as above, except add a package of white mushrooms in place of the meat (this will add a flavor variant to the stroganoff between the portabellinis and white mushrooms) and 2 extra onions, sliced thick. In addition, use vegetable broth in place of beef broth and add 3 more cloves of garlic. Yum!