Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Paleo Pressure Cooker Beef Stroganoff from Balancing Paleo

Before I review another recipe from Angie Alt's Alternative Autoimmune Cookbook, I thought I'd blog this recipe I gave a try a few months ago while I knock a little more rust off my blogging wheels.  I had a real hankering for Beef Stroganoff and my internet search engine lead me to Paleo Beef Stroganoff from Balancing Paleo.  I was made this on a weeknight, so the pressure cooker usage was a real plus for me.  Without further ado, I grabbed my ingredients.    


The recipe calls for stew beef, but I had a grass-fed sirloin tip roast to use, so I chunked it instead of buying meat labeled "stew meat."  This cut of beef is often used to make stew beef.


Next, I prepared the vegetables for the dish.  The recipe doesn't give any specific instruction for cutting up the onion.  I decided to dice my onion as I know I didn't want huge pieces of onion in the final dish.  


Next up, the mushrooms.  These baby bellas were sliced per the recipe instructions.

I seasoned the chunked roast.  


And next, browned it in two batches in my stove top pressure cooker using coconut oil.  I made sure to catch all of the juices in the bowl that I transferred the beef to so that I could return it to the dish eventually. 


I seem to be missing a picture of my caramelizing the vegetables, but that did happen.  Once done, I added the beef, juices and remaining spices/herbs to the pot.


Next, I added my home made beef broth.  I put the lid on the pressure cooker and turned the burner on high so it would come up to pressure.  



While the recipe cooked away in the pressure cooker, I prepared the zucchini noodles with my trusty spiral cutter.


I salted the zucchini and let it set for 20 minutes.


Here's what I had when I removed the pressure cooker lid.  


I added the coconut milk and simmered to reduce the sauce.  


After 20 minutes, I rinsed the salt off the zucchini and steamed it in the microwave.  Super quick and easy.  


After reducing the stroganoff for a few minutes, here's my end result.  


Here it is plated.  



Accessibility & Cost of Ingredients:  You can get everything you need for this recipe at your big box grocery store.  I got my roast at Sprouts and I always get my coconut milk at the Asian market near my house. 

Preparation & Cooking Time:  It took me just under 27 minutes from start to putting the lid on the pressure cooker, so that includes the time browning the meat and caramelizing the vegetables.  If you buy pre-cut stew beef, your time will obviously be less.  My cooker came to pressure at 32 minutes and I turned off the burner after 15 minutes.  My pressure cooker let me open the lid at one hour in and I declared the dish complete at 1 hour and 9 minutes total, including prep.

Clean Up:  There was nothing out of the ordinary with clean up making this dish.  The spiral cutter does require hand washing, but that's pretty easy.  

The Paleo Review:  Thumbs Up!  This really turned out lovely.  The beef was so tender and had the full stroganoff flavor I was craving.  It was a little on the salty side for me, so I'll likely cut back a little on salt the next time I make it.  I was concerned by using the coconut milk that the dish would have a coconut flavor, but it had none.  Yum. Yum. Yum.  

How many of you have pressure cookers out there?  Have you been seduced by an Instant Pot?  I have my trusty J.C. Penney brand stove top pressure cooker and I bought an Instant Pot last spring.  I see people raving about the Instant Pot all over the place, but I'm not entirely sold on it yet.  There is a learning curve with it and so far I think my stove top cooker has given me better results and makes for easier clean up.  


Sources/Affiliate Disclosure- This post contains affiliate links for which the blog earns a small commission if you purchase items through those links.