When there's a chill in the air....time for some Goulash!

..and winter is definitely approaching!  This is 'stew' weather, so I thought a nice Hungarian Goulash would fit the bill.   This is a perfect dish for starting on a weekend morning and letting it simmer throughout the whole day and be ready for dinner.

Software:

• 5 or 6 strips of bacon, chopped
• 3 pounds boneless chuck, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (I just bought the pre-cut)
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 medium onions (about 1 1/2 pounds), chopped fine
• 2 red bell peppers, chopped fine
• 4 potatoes cut into 1/2 chunks
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons Hungarian Paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoons caraway seeds
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup red-wine vinegar
• 1 4oz can of tomato paste
• 5 cups of Beef Broth
• 2 1/2 bottles of dark beer (I used Bass)
• Salt and Pepper to taste.

Hardware pictured above.
I realized I'm missing my favorite Black & Deck chopper and Silicone Tongs after I took this picture and started cooking.


Fry the bacon in a large dutch oven and crisp the bacon.  You want to make sure you get enough bacon grease for browning the meat.  Sear the meat (don't forget to s&p) on both sides (about a minute each side). 

You can do them in small batches or if you're lazy like me, just cram the meat in, and shuffle them around for about 5 minutes until everything gets browned.

Remove the meat and bacon from the pan, add the vegetable oil and saute the onions and garlic (about 2 minutes) .  Mix in the caraway seeds, paprika, flour and cook, constantly stirring, for about 2 minutes. Whisk in the vinegar and tomato paste, whisking for about 1 minute. (Mixture will be very thick.)

Stir in broth, beer, (drink the 1/2 bottle left over), beef, bacon and bring to a boil.

 Add the sliced potatoes.









 and the red peppers into the mixture.

 Turn the stove heat to simmer and let it sit until you're ready to eat.  I would stir the goulash about every hour just to make sure nothing ended up sticking to the sides or the bottom of the pan.  I let it simmer for about 6 hours until we were ready to eat it.  Serve with a red wine and some crusty rolls to soak up the stew.  Perfect for a blustery cold day.

Epilogue:  While eating this, I wondered, how come there aren't any carrots in this?  Or even mushrooms?  but then again, I probably was thinking of Beef Stew, though I'm sure the extra vegetables wouldn't have taken away from the dish.  Oh well, next time.