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.

 

 

 

 

Low Carb Curried Pork Stew

A couple of things you should know about me.  Don’t care to know? Fine!  Skip down to the semi-fabulous recipe that can cook while you’re off to visit your busy day and still feed your ungrateful family who has no idea how hard you work and all the things you do for them daily.

But, enough about you.  Let’s get back to me and the things you should know.  I love to cook…scratch that…I love to empress people with my cooking.  I only invite people who are exuberantly thrilled to be impressed.  I am also lazy…well not really lazy….ok, really lazy.  I like to work at a frenzy, then casually sip a wine or three with my freeloading friends, while the spectacularly delicious meal takes care of itself.  Lots of ways to do that and one of my favorites goes under the unremarkable heading of stew.

In my never ending search for the unremarkably remarkable, I chanced upon a stew recipe that with just a bit of tweaking could turn a suburbanite’s common Mustang into a fire-spitting Shelby Cobra.  I know, I know.  Mixed metaphors.  First cooking, then screaming sports cars.  But, that fire-spitting Shelby Cobra sticks In your mind, n’est pas?  Mission Accomplished!

On to the recipe.

Low Carb Curried Pork Stew

Hint:  If you’re getting an early morning start, cook this stew the night before.

Pre-heat your oven to 275ºF (140ºC)

1 Pound (or a bit more) of either cooked, or raw pork.  I used some of each.

3 cloves of fresh garlic, thinly sliced

Salt and pepper to taste or about ½ teaspoon each

6 Ounces button mushrooms, washed and quartered

½ Medium onion, diced

½ Red bell pepper, sliced

½ Green bell pepper, sliced

1 Large parsnip, julienned

4 Tablespoons of your favorite concentrated curry paste.  I use Patak’s.

1 Can (about 1 ½ to 2 Cups) double strength beef broth, undiluted

2 Cups chicken broth

Juice of ½ Lime to finish

Puttin’ It All Together:

If you’re using raw pork, drop a tablespoon or two of oil in a frying pan and lightly brown the meat, adding salt and pepper.  Don’t worry about the pork not cooking completely!  The stew will be in the oven a few hours.

Put the vegetables in a large skillet and lightly cook them.  This reduces the water in the vegetables and intensifies the flavor. 

In your stew pot, put a bit of oil and the minced onions and garlic slices. Cook until they wilt.  Add all the pork and stir.

Add the beef and chicken broths and bring to a boil.  Add the curry paste and stir well.  Add the vegetables.

Put a top on your stew pot, slip it into the 275ºF (140ºC) oven and go do something else for three hours.

When the stew comes out of the oven, taste, and add salt and pepper as necessary.

Squeeze the juice of half a lime over the stew and stir.

Ladle the stew into bowls and serve with a slice of lime.

This stew goes well with either swilling a beer, or sipping a Pinot Grigio!

Stuffed Red Bell Peppers that'll stuff you!

Before we move on to a most delicious recipe, modified, twisted and turned to meet my own very selfish persuasions, there are some things you need to know.

I like stuffed peppers, whether we’re talking about the justly famous Mexican dish of  “Chile Relleno,” or the traditional American variety, using bell peppers.

I’m also the serendipity kind, awkwardly inspired by what ever happens to jump into my field of view at the local market.  I walk in thinking pot roast and see bell peppers on sale.  The rest follows as naturally as foamy beer on a mustache.

Just to be clear, for recent high school graduates, that last bit was a special type of metaphor called a simile.   Also, I do not have a mustache.

Red bell peppers suit my taste buds better than the green variety.  Slightly sweet.  Silky smooth, with no acrid aftertaste.  Sometimes I just do a rough chop and eat ‘em as a snack food.

Back to constructing a luscious, one item meal for your wife and desperately hungry children, or that special someone whom you want to impress by stuffing peppers, while leering stupidly and trying not to dribble wine down the front of your shirt.

Stuffed Red Bell Peppers

4 Large red bell peppers

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Cups chopped green onions, both white and green parts

6 Tablespoons chopped, fresh cilantro

4 cloves freshly minced garlic

2-3 Cups cooked rice

1 Tablespoon paprika

Salt to taste or 1 ¼ teaspoons

1 Teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ Teaspoon allspice (about 3-4 shakes)

2 Cups tomato sauce (I use the boxed type, as opposed to the canned)

¾ Lb ground beef

¾ Lb ground pork

¼ Teaspoon cayenne pepper (as with the allspice above)

2 Eggs, beaten

Cut about ½ inch off the top of each bell pepper and scoop out the seeds.  Remove and discard the stems.  Roughly chop the flesh of the tops.

Make the rice.

Parboil the red bell peppers for 3 minutes, then remove from the water and place them upside down on a paper/tea towel to dry.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC)

In a skillet, cook the beef/pork to the ‘just losing the pink’ stage and set aside.  Don’t wash that skillet yet!  Use it for the next part!

Heat the oil and beef/pork drippings in the skillet and add the onions, chopped pepper tops, cilantro, and garlic.  Add a dash or two of salt and pepper.  Cook until the onions are well wilted, about 5-8 minutes.  Put in a large bowl and mix in the rice and spices.  Allow to cool about ten minutes.

Add the beef/pork, beaten eggs and 1 to 1 1/2 Cups of tomato sauce to the mixture.  Mix well, adding more salt and other spices to taste.

Stuff the peppers with the filling mixture, mounding it on top.  Place the stuffed peppers in a baking dish small enough for the peppers to stand upright without falling over.

Sprinkle on some Parmigiano-Reggiano and they're ready for the oven!

Surround the stuffed peppers with any extra filling.  Add a dollop of tomato sauce to the top of each pepper and to any extra mounds of filling.  Generously sprinkle the tops of the peppers with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Put the peppers in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the tops are browned.

Serve hot.  Expect screams of joy and boisterous demands for more wine.

Note:  I use only Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano.  Call me a snob, but I like to know what I’m eating.  In my not so humble opinion, American processed food is so adulterated as to be unrecognizable from the original.  I have to say, there may be some boutique American cheese makers who do a magnificent job, but in the main, the big bullies on the supermarket shelves are to be avoided.