Goulash for the Brave of Heart by the Careless Cook

 

Goulash for the Brave of Heart by the Careless Cook

 

Why for the brave of heart? Bare in mind this recipe is only a starting point, a guide.  Don’t have something? Leave it out, or substitute another.  Don’t like this or that, hey, follow your taste buds. You are the master chef and if you like it, that’s the only stamp of approval you need.  Guests have problems with this or that?  What the hell, you’re feeding them a free dinner or lunch!  You’re a chef, not a short order cook!

 

I have had people tell me, we’d love to come to supper. Fred doesn’t like fish or any seafood, is gluten free by choice, and prefers not to have rice.  I’m going fat free and lactose free. Also, both of us are allergic to flowers and anything scented. By the way, we do not approve of alcoholic beverages, and would like to know who you voted for in the last election.

 

Ah, I understand you won’t be coming to dinner. Worry not.  We’ll invite you and Fred over for iced water sometime in the unmentioned future, as soon as we rent the gymnasium, hopefully before you bid adieu to this scented world, but maybe not.

 

Goulash for the Brave of Heart by The Careless Cook

 

Ingredients, more or less

 

A jigger of vegetable oil (I used extra virgin olive oil, a holdover from my teenage years.  These days I would gladly settle for non-virgin olive oil)

1.5 pounds (700 g) of stewed beef, cut into 1 inch cubes

1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

3 large red bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1 inch pieces

2 heaping Tablespoons of flour

2 heaping Tablespoons of paprika, or more to taste (I used smoked paprika)

2 heaping Tablespoons of tomato paste

1 can (14 oz) of diced tomatoes

1 cup of beef stock (if you used carton beef stock (you may want to add a cube of dried beef stock to intensify the flavor)

Salt and pepper to taste

 

To serve:  Over brown rice.  Add a scoop of sour cream and pickles.  I used my version of bread and butter pickles. Also add some chopped flat leaf parsley for color…. which I did not add because I didn’t have any.

 

Puttin’ It Together

Heat oven to 250ºF

 

Add the oil to a large pot and heat to medium. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft. Add the red bell pepper and when they are barely soft add the meat and cook until lightly brown.  Don’t worry about fully cooking the meat.  It will cook in the oven for a long time.

 

Add the paprika and flour.  Stir well.  Add the diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir well.

 

Add the cup of beef broth. Stir.

 

Salt and pepper to taste.

 

Cover the pot put it into a 250ºF oven and cook for two and a half to three hours.  Check to see the texture.  If it’s too soupy, remove the top and put the post on the cooktop at medium heat and cook until it’s the consistency you want. Meat should be very tender, almost falling apart.

 

Remove from heat.  Add a spoonful or two of brown rice and spoon the goulash into bowls.  I let my guests add their own dollop of sour cream and pickles.

 

This tastes even better on the second day.  Also a good gift for a neighbor who is under the weather and under fed.  However, do not let the freeloaders fool you by suddenly limping or sneezing, or pretending not to be gluten free.

 

 

 

 

Hungarian Goulash Sorta

 

Hungarian Goulash Sorta

 

It was a dark and rainy evening.  I was hungry.  What better time for a dish from Hungary for the hungry.  And even though it was evening, it suddenly dawned on me. Goulash!  But, this would be no flash in the pan.  It would take slicing and dicing a plenty, but nevertheless worth stewing over.

 

The recipe called for two lovely Hungarians from Budapest, Boglàrka and Zsófia, but unfortunately they were not in the cards, or the deck and my significant other insisted I try another recipe, or she would deck me. Hahaha, what a card.

 

By the way, did you realize Budapest was once two cities, Buda and Pest, or three for a while?   The cities fell under the Ottoman rule, until the re-conquest of Buda in 1686.  For quite some time the combined city was known as Pest-Buda, and in 1873, the cities of  Buda, Óbuda, and Pest combined to form Budapest, which became the co-capital of the Austro Hungarian Empire. Shall I keep my three faithful readers in suspense? No, but, I can take my time; they’re slow readers.  Of course the other co-capital was Vienna.

 

But, let’s get back to the really important stuff, cooking and eating.

 

Hungarian Goulash Sorta

 

Ingredients, or as the Gabor sisters, Eva and Zsa Zsa and Magda said to so many men:  Mi egymásnak lettünk teremtve!  We were meant to be together.

 

You need not worry.  Ingredients are simple and readily available.  No surprises like pickled eye of newt, or frog liver paté.

 

2 lbs beef stew meat

Olive Oil

2 sweet onions, diced

2 red onions, diced

5 cloves of garlic, sliced

3 mid sized red bell peppers, seeded and diced

1 can fire roasted, diced tomatoes, juice and all

4 heaping tablespoons sweet paprika

1 Tablespoon smoked paprika

2 cups beef broth (or more, depending on if you lean toward stew or soup)

Salt to taste

1 package of egg noodles, if it’s stew you want, you Hungary devil!

 

Puttin’ it together:  Táncoljunk!  Let’s dance!

 

Put ¼ cup oil in a stew sized pot over medium heat and when the oil is

hot, add the chunks of beef.  Stir to brown, then add all the vegetables, except for the diced tomatoes, and stir well.

Heat the oven to 350ºF or 180ºC

 

When the onions are translucent, add all the paprika and mix again.  Add the can of diced tomatoes and the beef broth.  For stew, if you need to add more broth as it cooks, do it gingerly.  I added another half to one cup.

Let the stew come to a boil, turn it to simmer and cook until the meat is barely tender.

 

Put a top on the pot and put it in the oven for two hours.

 

About ten minutes before the stew comes out of the oven, cook the egg noodles according to package directions, then stain.  Put a couple of splashes of oil and two tablespoons of butter in the noodle pan. Add the drained noodles and mix well.

 

I served the goulash over the noodles.  My professional taster deemed it edible, but just to be sure, I finished my snifter of brandy before checking to see if she were still breathing.  I tend to trust survivors.

 

Now, should I reveal the story of the time I met Zsa Zsa in Las Vegas?  Well, to tell the truth (as I seldom do), we had both been drinking and