Speedy Skillet Dinner

Everyone in my family likes the Skillet Stroganoff recipe that Barbara shared. I leave out the sour cream, which makes it more of a "hamburger helper" type dinner, but that's how we like it.

I've worked out ways to do a good amount of the cooking of this dinner ahead of time, which is great for days like today. My choir is singing at the 5:00 Mass tonight, which means that we get home well after 6 and everyone is hungry for dinner right now. They don't want to wait. This can be on the table in 15 minutes if you do everything possible ahead and have your stuff ready to remove from the fridge and pop on the stove the second you get home!

SPEEDY SKILLET DINNER printable version

1 lb. lean ground beef
salt and pepper
1 TBL vegetable oil
1 cup white mushrooms, sliced thin
1 onion, finely chopped (or half a large onion)
3 cups* beef broth
3 TBL* red wine
3 cups* wide egg noodles
2 TBL all-purpose flour
2 TBL butter

MAKE-AHEAD:

In a hot skillet, brown ground beef, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from skillet.

Add oil and cook mushrooms and onion until liquid from mushrooms has evaporated, about 8 minutes. Add broth and the wine, and return beef and accumulated juices to pan. Bring to a simmer.

Remove from the stove and put in a large covered container in the fridge until you're ready to resume cooking.

JUST BEFORE DINNER:

Melt butter in skillet and stir in flour. Return beef mixture to skillet and bring to a boil. Stir noodles into beef mixture, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until noodles are tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Serve with a salad or "steam in a bag" vegetables.

NOTE: You can stretch this recipe by adding extra noodles, broth and wine. Just make sure that you add 1 cup broth and 1 TBL wine for every extra 1 cup noodles.