By special request: Poor Man's Stroganoff

When I posted my first recipe many moons ago (April?), I used my Granny's Delia Smith Evening Standard cookbook and was inundated (2 people) with requests for Granny's/Delia's Beef Stroganoff. Never one to disappoint my fans (all 2 of them), this week I'm recreating the temptingly named "Poor Man's Stronganoff" from the same book.

I should also admit that the other reason for picking this one was that the Bearded Argentinian arrived home last Saturday with a kilo of beef brisket "because it was on offer"... Whether £14 of meat from Waitrose deli counter was quite what Delia had in mind when devising this recipe, I guess we'll never know...

Ingredients:

For 4 people:

1 kg of beef brisket or similar cut suitable for slow cooking (or whatever's on offer)

4 tbsp butter

2 onions, sliced 

4 tbsp plain flour

1 tbsp tomato purée

1 tin of condensed mushroom soup

150ml carton natural yoghurt

Grated nutmeg

Method:

- Using the sharpest knife you have, slice the meat into thin strips (or get someone else to do it like your butcher or Argentinian boyfriend).

- Cook the sliced onions gently in the butter for about 5 minutes then add the meat to brown on all sides.

- Stir in the flour to soak up the juices, then add the tomato purée, mushroom soup and yoghurt.

- Grate in a bit of nutmeg, season, put the lid on and either simmer gently on the hob or put in the oven at 160C for 1 - 1.5 hours until the meat is tender.

- Serve with rice and a sense of disbelief that this actually works (although you might wonder where the mushrooms are, and it wouldn't break the poor man's bank to fork out for some).

Grub's up!