I think I mentioned in one of my recent posts that we had purchased some grass fed beef. (Lovely, BTW.) Because I don’t particularly enjoy cooking or eating cuts of meat that are terribly fatty, like chuck steak or chuck roast for example, I asked the butcher to grind most of these types of cuts into – you guessed it – ground beef. So when you look in my freezer you will find lots of 1 lb. packages of this amazing ingredient. So featuring ground beef for dinner has become quite frequent in the Carr household. And since I almost always like to gussy things up a bit, I thought a nice meatloaf topped with a sumptuous gravy would be perfect to serve on a cold winter night. (Plus I knew there would be leftover meatloaf.  And we absolutely adore meatloaf sandwiches when made with multi grain wheat bread, a tiny smear of mayonnaise, a good dollop of ketchup, a modicum of mustard, a very thin slice of onion, some lettuce, a tomato slice or two, and sliced dill pickle. If feeling extravagant, a thin slice of sharp cheddar cheese is always welcome too.) But back to this recipe. (But do try my idea of a perfect sandwich if you ever find yourself with leftover meatloaf in the refrigerator.)

As I was considering how I could change the meatloaf up a bit, I thought about stroganoff. We both love stroganoff. And ground beef is not much more than steak that has been previously tenderized. So why wouldn’t a stroganoff sauce be perfect? And indeed, why not? So I prepared one of my usual meatloaf recipes, and while it and a potato were happily baking away in the oven, I went to work on the sauce.

Now I’ve been making stroganoff for well over 40 years. So creating the sauce recipe was easy. What was difficult was realizing that I should have been serving this combination for well over 40 years too! Where was my head when I was trying to come up with wonderful, economical, reasonably quick dinners for my children after a full day of work? And then realizing how much money I could have saved by making a meatloaf rather than purchasing a pricey cut of beef for the stroganoff. Plus with meatloaf, I could have hidden veggies and a scoop of my ever present secret ingredient – wheat germ! Like I said, where was my head?

Well in my defense, I was a little busy during those years. Plus, if a recipe didn’t appear in one of my cookbooks, I certainly didn’t have the time for inventive cooking. But I do now. So my hope is that this recipe will help you if you are facing time or budget restraints but still desire the wonderful taste of a delectable stroganoff.

And please do me a favor. If you have beef recipes that you cherish, but don’t have the time or financial resources to prepare them per your recipe, let me know. I will see if I can figure out how they can be prepared using ground beef. Please – I need your help. I’m drowning in the stuff and I’m running out of ideas. Thank you.

Meatloaf:

• 2 T. chopped dehydrated onion
• 1 T. dried parsley
• 1 tsp. granulated garlic
• 1 tsp. Montreal Steak Seasoning (comes in bulk in the dried herbs and spices section)
• 1 tsp. seasoned salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ tsp. dried savory
• ½ c. dry bread crumbs (I use the Italian bread crumbs – also comes in bulk at many grocery stores)
• 2 eggs
• ¼ c. milk
• 1 lb. bulk sausage
• 1 lb. not so lean ground beef
• paprika

In a large mixing bowl combine the onion, parsley, garlic, Montreal Seasoning, salt, pepper, savory, bread crumbs, eggs, and milk. Stir in the sausage and then the ground beef. (I use a table knife for this purpose.) Form into 2 rectangular loaves. Place on a rimmed baking pan and bake for 1 hour in a pre-heated 350 degree oven. Remove from oven and let sit for at least 10 minutes. Slice and serve topped with Stroganoff Gravy and lightly sprinkled with paprika.

Stroganoff Sauce:

• 1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
• ½ c. chopped onion
• 10-12 button mushrooms, sliced
• ½ tsp. dried thyme
• pinch kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp. beef base
• 1 c. sour cream

Heat the olive oil. Add the onion and mushrooms; cook until the onion is translucent and the mushrooms slices are starting to brown. Whisk in the thyme, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and beef base. Bring just to a boil. Add the sour cream and once again, bring just to a boil. Remove from heat and serve over slices of the meatloaf.