Egg Noodles With Beef, Asparagus and Mushrooms

Our beef on the hoof purchase is ready for cutting which means it will be ready to picked up in a week or two.  The past couple of months we have been focusing on reducing our freezer stock in preparation for the new meat.  At the same time because of the potential move combined with the new growing season starting I have been working on reducing our pantry stock so we are doing a lot of eating from the pantry and freezer which is not a bad thing. 

Looking through the freezers I discovered the last package of stew beef, not quite enough to make my normal sized batch of stew.  I put that out for thawing then checked the fridge to see what would go with the beef.  I found a part bottle of Diana Sauce™from our last barbeque so a plan was already in motion in my mind.  I paired a sauce made with stew beef, Diana Sauce™,  home canned mushrooms, and fresh asparagus with broad egg noodles.  The end result was an easy, comfort, frugal meal right from the pantry.

Egg Noodles With Beef, Asparagus and Mushrooms
1 lb  stew beef
1 tbsp olive oil
¼ c water (red wine or beef stock)
about 1½ c Diana Sauce™
500 ml (2 c) jar home canned mushrooms
8 spears fresh asparagus
about 4 c of cooked egg noodles

Heat olive oil in fry pan.  Brown stew beef in the olive oil then deglaze the pan with water.  Pour the Diana Sauce™ over the meat and bring to a simmer.  Cover and let simmer about 30 minutes.  Stir in the drained mushrooms.  Cover and simmer 10 minutes on low heat.  While sauce is simmering cook and drain the egg noodles.  Toss in the asparagus pieces into the sauce.  Cover and  simmer 5 minutes on low heat then ladle over hot egg noodle.

Note: Do not over cook the asparagus.  It should retain a bright green colour and be al dente.