Beef stroganoff made as a slow-cooked stew instead of a quick simmered dish might take longer, but in my opinion it's far better than the original. Thanks, Mum!

• 2kg chuck steak, cut into 5cm pieces

• ½ cup plain flour

• 2 tbsp smoked paprika

• 100g butter

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 3 brown onions, sliced

• 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

• 2 tbsp tomato paste

• 2 cups white wine

• 1L beef stock

• 1 tsp salt

• 750g button mushrooms, sliced

• 250g sour cream

• 500g green beans, tails removed

• ¼ cup finely shredded parsley, to serve

Combine the beef, flour and paprika in a large bowl and toss to coat the beef. Heat half the butter and all the olive oil in a large casserole dish over high heat and brown the beef in batches. Set the beef aside. Add the onions and garlic to the pot and fry until softened. Add a little more oil or butter if necessary. Add the tomato paste and stir for about a minute until it begins to caramelise. Add the wine to the pot and scrape up any brown bits from the base. Return the beef to the pot and add the stock and salt. Bring to a simmer, cover and reduce the heat and cook the beef for 1.5 hours until the beef is tender.

While the beef is cooking, heat a large frying pan over high heat and add the remaining butter. Fry the mushrooms until browned and softened.

Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Stir through the mushrooms and sour cream and cook for a further 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and add the green beans, covering the pot again allowing them to cook in the residual heat from the pot. Scatter with parsley and grind over plenty of black pepper to serve. Serve with buttered noodles or rice.

Baked sour cream custard

Serves 6

This simple baked custard had a delicious layer of liquid caramel that we could dig down to discover. No need to turn it onto a plate – it doesn't make it taste any better, and it's easier to put in the fridge if you don't.

• 1½ cups caster sugar

• 5 eggs

• 150ml sour cream

• 300ml milk

• 300ml pouring cream

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Heat oven to 150°C. Place 1 cup of sugar and 1 tbsp of water in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Continue to cook until the sugar becomes a dark caramel. You can swirl the pan so that the caramel colours evenly, but do not stir. Stirring can cause sugar to crystallise. Pour the caramel into the base of a 1.2L baking dish, tilting the dish so the caramel completely covers the base before it sets. Beat together the eggs and remaining sugar, then whisk in sour cream, milk and cream and vanilla in that order. Pour the custard over the set caramel.

Place the baking dish inside a larger dish and place into the oven. Pour boiling water into the larger dish until it comes half way up the sides of the custard. Bake the custard for 50 minutes until when the side of the baking tin is tapped, the custard barely wobbles in the middle. Remove from the oven, allow to cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate until chilled. Serve big scoops of the chilled custard, making sure to spoon up the liquid caramel from the bottom of the dish.

Adam's tip If you have a steam oven, you can avoid having to use a bain marie for baking the custard. Just steam it at full steam for about 45 minutes. You can even turn on the grill at the end to brown the top if you like.

This article appears in Sunday Life magazine within the Sun-Herald and the Sunday Age on sale May 12.