goulash

If you want your friends and family to treat you like a queen or king, then whip up this dish, break out a bottle of wine, and get ready for the the accolades.

Okay, okay, okay, you may not become instant royalty, but I am sure you’ll have a group of smiling faces at dinner. I haven’t had too many dishes where everyone at the table asks for seconds (or thirds), but this goulash was a major hit at my house. Highlighting fresh bell peppers (which are looking top notch at the farmers market right now) and a slow cooking method that does all of the work for you, this dish is going to become a staple in my house this fall, perfect for those days of yard work ahead.

While I can promise you that this is delicious, I can’t promise you that this is an authentic Hungarian goulash, mainly because I haven’t found an ‘official’ recipe. I’ve been looking for a Hungarian cookbook, but so far nothing has caught my eye. If you have any gems on your cookbook shelf, or a Hungarian grandma, I’d love to hear about it!

Without anything official to work with, I riffed off a Jamie Oliver recipe that I saw one morning on Jamie at Home. I tweaked my recipe out to work with a slow cooker, but if you want to go to the source, here’s Jamie’s version.

You can serve the goulash as a stew or ladled over a starch, like egg noodles or rice. This recipe requires a bit of work in the morning (so throw it together while cooking breakfast) and takes a good part of the day to cook, so plan ahead.

goulash
(serves 4-6)

special equipment: slow cooker

•    1 (5 pound) boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
•    sea salt
•    fresh ground black pepper
•    2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
•    2 red onions, peeled and finely sliced
•    1 tablespoon smoked sweet paprika
•    1 tablespoon hot sweet paprika
•    5 bell peppers
•    2 tablespoons tomato paste
•    1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
•    3 cups red wine
•    small bunch of marjoram, leaves picked
•    ¼ cup all-purpose flour
•    1 cup sour cream
•    4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
•    ¼ cup green onions, chopped

Set the slow cooker on high.

Season the beef pieces with a generous pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot set over medium-high heat. Add the beef and brown for 5-8 minutes. Remove the beef and add to the slow cooker.

Add the onions to the pot with a pinch of salt, the sweet paprika, and hot paprika. Stir to incoporate. Turn the heat to medium and cook the onion until softened, about 10 minutes. Remove the onions from the pot and add to the slow cooker.

Add the bell peppers, tomato paste, and diced tomatoes to the pot with a pinch of salt. Cook until the peppers have softened, about 5-8 minutes. Turn the heat off on the stove, remove the peppers and tomato mixture from the pot, and add to the slow cooker.

Add the red wine (enough to cover the beef) to the slow cooker along with the marjoram. Cover and cook on high until the meat is tender and can be pulled apart with a fork, about 6 hours.

After six hours, use a ladle to remove 3 cups of liquid to a heat-proof bowl. Whisk in the flour until it has thickened. Add the flour mixture back to the slow cooker and stir to combine. Cover and continue to cook until the sauce has thickened, about 20-30 minutes.

Before serving, stir in a ½ cup sour cream and 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar. Serve over spaetzle, egg noodles, or rice. Garnish with sour cream and green onions.