Brazilian Stroganoff

Stroganoff is one of my absolute favorite dishes when I go to Brazil. Now, I know stroganoff is Russian, but to me it is Brazilian because I had it for the first time when I was there! When I was in Itu last year doing my internship, I had it many times and requested it for my last "Brazilian" meal. Their version is served with rice instead of noodles. To make it even more Brazilian, I picked up some picanha, or top sirloin for the meat. Picanha is most Brazilians' favorite cut of meat...it is roasted over open flames and is one of the meat cuts served in the rodizio style restaurants (think Texas de Brazil or Fogo de Chao). For this dish, you will need:

butter
1 pkg. fresh sliced mushrooms
1.5 - 2 lbs. beef or chicken
1 medium onion, minced
2 tsp. garlic, minced
2 (14 oz.) cans tomato sauce
1 Tbsp. mustard
2 cans media crema (known as creme de leite in Brazil), found by the sweetened condensed milk
salt
pepper
Ruffles potato chips (Brazilians top their stroganoff with shoestring potatoes. Crushed Ruffles do the trick, too!)

Brown mushrooms in about 1 tablespoon butter and set aside. Cut the meat into bite sized pieces and season with salt and pepper. Brown meat with garlic and onions in another 1-2 tablespoons of butter. (You can also use extra virgin olive oil, or do half butter, half EVOO.) After meat is browned, add the browned mushrooms and cook another 1-2 minutes.

Then, add the tomato sauce and mustard to the pot. At this point, I added a little more salt, pepper, and threw in some garlic powder. Cover your pot with a lid and let it simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

After it has simmered, turn the burner off and stir in the media crema. The sauce should be a pink or light orange color. My Brazilian friends would probably add more cream than I did, but I like the more tomato-ey (yes, that's a word) flavor that comes from not adding as much. Serve over rice and top with crushed Ruffles, if desired!