In honor of Father's Day, I asked my father what he would like for dinner. His response was a dish hearkening back to his childhood, beef stroganoff. This was a dish I had not made before, a beef dish, I typically work with seafood and chicken. Looking through various recipes, I decided that this was a dish that needed to have the volume turned up a bit.

To begin, I asked my local butcher to double-cube a round steak for me. As a typically not-too-tender cut of meat, the cubing process left this meat ideal for a low-heat cooking process. I cut the steak into a number of thin, slightly-bigger-than-bite-size pieces and seasoned them with my own secret spices. At the same time, I started a few tablespoons of olive oil and a dollop of butter in a pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil came up to temperature, I dusted the steak pieces lightly in flour and began to brown the pieces on all sides.

Once the steak pieces were gorgeously brown, I evacuated them to a waiting plate. Into the pan, I added a sliced, white, medium onion and some sliced white button mushrooms. Stirring them around until the onions were tender, I let them saute in the beef drippings. Once tender, I sprinkled in a simple teaspoon of flour to help thicken everything up and re-added the steak back to the pan. Over the top of this concoction, I added one can of cream of mushroom soup and one can of low-sodium beef broth. Stirring with my trusty wooden spoon, I clamped the lid on, setting the stove to low, I let my dish slowly cook over the course of 30 minutes.

Towards the end of the thirty minutes, I began my side dish, green beans. Now, how do you turn up the volume with green beans? You take a casserole dish, a little bit of water, and some bacon grease (left over from breakfast), and use the microwave to steam-cook these beans to perfection! All it required to complete it was a simple bit of butter. An important lesson to all, never underestimate the culinary magic that is bacon grease!

At the end of the thirty minutes of cooking, the beef stroganoff was nearly complete. The only thing missing was the final ingredient, sour cream. I stirred in a whole cup, the sauce took up a lighter hue. Serving over a plate of cholesterol-free/no-yolk/whole-wheat egg noodles, I presented my final dish.

My father has meant a lot to me in my life and through this dish, I hope that I'm able to honor him on this special day. But, that doesn't mean that I would forget about my other customers. In honor of the holiday, the kitchen is staying open a full hour later, to make sure you all stay fuller for hours. Care to place an order?