Did *I* Just Make This?!

I love beef stroganoff.  The creamy sauce, the chunks of tender beef...and noodles.  Let us not forget the blessed buttered noodles.  It vexes me however that I am deathly (as in keel over dead in 5 minutes type of deathly) allergic to mushrooms and it seems that ALL delicious looking stroganoffs have mushrooms in one way, shape or form.  YUCK!  Death on a plate?  You eat it.  I'll go eat cake or something!  LOL  However, the other day strolling through Tasty Kitchen I found a recipe from calou84523 that just made me want to eat my monitor.  There before me was a gorgeous looking plate of beef tips with mushrooms & sherry over risotto.  It's like a glorified, beefed up version of stroganoff.  Beefed up?!  You get it!?!  Well I thought it was funny.

Lou's version had mushrooms and I lamented.  Lou's version had risotto which I'm just way too lazy to make b/c it's near 100 degrees outside and I cannot stand the thought of hovering over a simmering pot for an hour straight stirring molten lava risotto.  Lou's version had left over roast beef.  Is there such a thing?  Surely not in my house.  Roast beef, brisket, steaks....anything beef related is gobbled down like it came from the last cow on Earth.  No - this would not do.  But I wanted it.  So I adapted.  Below is my adaptation of Lou's recipe.  It was delicious, it was heavenly...it was buttery, melt in your mouth kinda good.  My first bite was unbelievable.  I thought to myself "I can't remember making anything more delicious." And I can't.  Its like something out of a bonafide restaurant.  I half expected a bill after dinner with a mint.  (mmm, mints.)

Find Lou's version above by click on his link.  Here is mine!

Beef Tips in Cream & Sherry Sauce

• 1 pound Beef Tenderloin Or Sirloin Tips    *see note below*
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• ½ White Onion, thinly sliced
• 1/8 tsp dried thyme (or fresh, chopped thyme if you have)
• ½ cups cooking sherry
• 1 cup Beef Stock (or the leftover cooking broth from note below)
• 1-½ cup Heavy Cream
• 3 Tablespoon Corn Starch
• 3 Tablespoon Cold Water
• Coarse Kosher Or Sea Salt (to Taste)
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
• Beef Flavoring Crystal (or the cubes, whichever you have)\

 *Note*  I cooked my beef tips in a crockpot overnight.  Threw them in with  32 ounces of beef stock, 1 bay leaf, a sprinkling of garlic powder, salt & pepper.  Left it on low overnight.  Ta-dah!  Pull out the beef, set aside to cool and reserve the cooking liquid.  You'll need some.  Once the meat is cooled, shred into big chunks with two forks.  Set aside. 

 Add butter to a frying pan set over medium heat.  Once better melts and starts getting foamy, add the sliced onion, sprinkling them with a tad bit of salt.  Sweat the onions out till they are just starting to get browned.  Add sherry and thyme, stirring well and scraping bottom of pan to get all the goodies off the bottom.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.  Add reserved beef broth and reduce the liquids down nearly half.  Takes about 6-7 minutes).  Pour in the cream and taste the sauce.  Add any flavorings you may need.  I used salt & pepper, then decided I wanted mine to be a bit more "beefy" so I added a few sprinkles of beef flavoring crystals.  Mix the cornstarch and the water to make a pasty slurry and add to the sauce, stirring continually until it thickens up.  (won't take long)  Add your chunked up beef and heat through.  Serve over noodles, risotto, potatoes, etc.

Makes 4 big portions.  Enjoy!