Hungarian Goulash

 So, I just got home from our Charm Girl's trip to Washington- and after our class reunion in Moses Lake, we headed to a Bavarian village called Leavenworth in the beautiful mountains of Washington.  Here in Utah we have our Midway, Ut but Leavenworth is like Midway on steroids!  Such a beautiful place!

I actually didn't get my fill of Bavarian food so I headed to the grocery store and picked up the makings for Hungarian Goulash.  I grew up on my mom's American version of goulash which is basically hamburger, tomatoes and noodles.  This dish doesn't have a tomato in it!  It was so delicious!  I used food.com's recipe with a few variations.

               

 

 

Easy Hungarian Goulash

 

Let's just start out by saying I am attention deficit- so meals that take hours to simmer lose my attention.  I had this meal prepared in less than an hour because I use a pressure cooker. (No, they AREN'T scary anymore!)  I had my butcher dice up the chuck roast at the grocery store into the chunks, sautéed them in a little oil. I then added about 1 cup of beef broth and turned on the pressure cooker.  When it came up to full pressure, I cooked it for about 25 minutes, stirred in about 1/2 cup of flour and coated the meat and then turned off the stove to combine the other ingredients. I sautéed the onions and garlic until golden, added the mushrooms and rest of the spices and liquids (I actually used 1/2 cup of the Hungarian paprika and it wasn't even spicy!) and then poured this divine mixture into the meat with juice mixture.  I then stirred it all together....the meat was tender all apart!  Go ahead, choose your way to cook but this is soooo good.  Don't forget the sour cream and the buttered noodles.  If you are planning on freezing some, don't add the sour cream until you serve it.

• 2 -3 lbs boneless chuck roast, cut into 1-inch chunks
• kosher salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided use
• 4 medium sweet onions, sliced and separated into rings
• 8 ounces baby portabella mushrooms or 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, brushed clean and cut in half
• 1 head garlic, peeled, large cloves cut in half (about 12 cloves)
• ¹⁄₂ cup sweet red wine
• 1 ³⁄₄ cups beef broth
• ¹⁄₄ cup sweet Hungarian paprika (see Note)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 4 cups cooked noodles, buttered, with chopped parsley      

 

 

 

Directions

1. Place beef chunks in a large bowl. Sprinkle liberally with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.
2. Toss with the flour.
3. Heat a heavy Dutch oven over medium high heat and add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Place beef chunks in a single layer and brown on two sides. You will probably need to do this in batches. Do not crowd the meat or it will boil instead of brown. Remove browned beef chunks to a bowl.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low. To the drippings in the Dutch oven, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, sweet onion rings, mushrooms, and garlic. Toss to coat with the olive oil. Cover tightly and sweat the vegetables, stirring occasionally, until onions are limp but not browned and mushrooms are releasing their liquid, about 10 minutes.
5. Add red wine to the vegetables and cook 2 minutes. Add beef broth and paprika. Return beef to the pan. Stir until well-combined. Cover tightly, reduce heat, and simmer on low heat for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until beef is fork-tender.
6. Remove Dutch oven from heat and wait for boiling to subside. Taste and add additional salt if necessary. Stir in sour cream until completely incorporated into the gravy.
7. Serve Hungarian gulash over hot buttered noodles with chopped parsley.
8. Note: The amount of paprika is correct. Please do use it all. If you cannot use the wine, use an equal amount of additional beef broth.