Cheap & Easy Eats:

No False Steps with This ‘Ersatz Beef Stroganoff’

By Victoria Secunda

hen I was a young bride, I invited some friends over for my very first dinner party. The only problem: I wasn’t any class of cook. I called my unofficial godmother, Peggy Harvey, a renowned cook, hostess and cookbook writer (“Season to Taste,”  Alfred A. Knopf, 1957), and asked if she could suggest a dish that was both inexpensive and failure-proof. What follows is her recipe, which she calls “Chopped Steak and Mushrooms in Sour Cream,” and I call “Ersatz Beef Stroganoff.” The dinner was a great success. Peggy suggests that the dish be served with tossed salad and hot French bread. I serve it over cooked rice. This recipe serves 4, but, if quadrupled, it can serve a crowd, and costs $5 per person, tops.

Ingredients:

Onions

Butter

1-pound mushrooms

1-pound lean ground round

Powdered ginger

Salt, pepper

Sour cream

 In a skillet, sauté one onion in four tablespoons of butter until onion is translucent. Slice mushrooms and add to onions, cooking on medium heat until nearly tender. Stir in the ground round and cook for a couple of minutes, add 1/8 teaspoon of powdered ginger, salt and pepper to taste, and one-cup sour cream. Cook until heated through. Serve over cooked, buttered rice.

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Victoria Secunda is the executive editor of

MAKING BREAD magazine.  

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Peggy Harvey's 1957 "Season to Taste" still available from

A Sentimental Journey. Click above to order.