Dinner Tonight: Stroganoff Casserole

I had sour cream about to turn in the fridge, and I knew there was cream of mushroom soup in my cabinet, so I decided it was time to make stroganoff. But, I also had a bunch of potatoes that were starting to sprout, so instead of going noodle-y, I went with sliced potatoes, which meant a casserole. So I did a little allrecipes search just to see if it had been done before, and I came up against something pretty close, and used that as my ratio monitor.

I didn't like the under-seasoned look of the recipe, so I kicked it up with roasted garlic, fresh cracked pepper, and Mediterranean sea salt. Instead of just frying the onion and beef, I took it up another level: I carmelized the onion, and char-grilled the beef on my George Foremann, then finished off the cooking with the onions and drained it off. I mixed sour cream and just a little bit of milk with cream of mushroom soup. Layers potatoes, soup-sauce, beef-onion mix, then topped the whole shebang with shredded medium cheddar.

The potatoes didn't soak up as much flavor as I would have liked, and I think maybe a few more minutes in the oven would have done it, but I felt the need for more sour in the dish. Maybe a spoonful of deli mustard (the kind with whole seeds) or possibly some malt vinegar added to the soup-sauce mix would have done it for me. I didn't have either, alas, so I just drizzled my bowl with some yellow mustard.

I ate two bowls. I would eat the whole dang casserole if I could, but I used three small potatoes and two medium ones. Too much food, even if pretty much the first thing I've eaten today. I'll probably finish it off tomorrow, though. God, I love leftovers.