Stroganoff (?) + Burger (?)

This stroganoff is one of the best things I've had this month.  I suppose it's not too different from this earlier recipe I made, though I wasn't going off of it as I did this one.  I learned a few things from this dish: first, cooking with wine is so great.  I don't like drinking it, but using a splash in place of tamari or stock allows you to a) add liquid (which can be essential to cooking things the way you want) without adding salt and b) add a completely different flavor which changes the other flavors, blah blah... I know you know these things.  But here it was amazing.  Also, I recently realized that adding flour to thicken dishes need not be so stressful; I have often worried about not whisking quickly enough and getting chunks/dumplings.  But if (just like with cornstarch) you mix the flour with a bit of cold water first and then add it, it's foolproof.  I have no idea why recipes direct you any other way.

I also made stir-fried dandelion greens with this.  Here, too, wine was really helpful, because the greens are so tough that they need to stew a little in extra liquid that cooks off, rather than just quickly fry.  These were cooked with garlic, tamari, white wine, and red pepper flakes. 

Tempeh-Mushroom Stroganoff

Ingredients

olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

pinch salt

lots of mushrooms, sliced

1 block tempeh, cut into small cubes or crumbled

1-1.5 c white wine

1 c stock

fresh rosemary

fresh thyme

dried sage

red pepper flakes

3 TB flour, mixed with 1/2 c water

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan.  Saute onion several minutes, then add garlic and a pinch of salt; cook several minutes more.  Add mushrooms and tempeh and cook until mushrooms have released their liquid, then deglaze with the wine.  Add stock as well.
2. Bring pot to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer.  Add herbs and red pepper flakes.  Cook about 15 minutes, uncovered.  Then add the flour-water mixture.  Simmer until everything thickens.  Serve hot with noodles.  Serves about 4.

*

These Harissa Lentil Fritters froze and thawed quite well!