Goulash

It’s a bit chilly up here! Thought it had snowed this morning but it was just a really really thick frost!  When the weather is like this all I want to do is curl up under a duvet with a massive mug of tea, but sadly we had to go to work so I promised myself comfort food and a nice evening in instead. The chosen comfort food for the evening was a beef goulash followed by baking a chocolate and banana loaf!

If you haven’t heard of it before, Goulash is a nice hearty casserole dish of beef in a tomato and paprika sauce, with sour cream stirred in at the end which originates from Hungary I think.

This goulash recipe was based on the one in my Good Housekeeping Cookery Book – the first (and still arguably the best) of all my recipe books, but I did the quantities pretty roughly. This kind of meal is a lot less scientific in its quantities than baking is, and I just use the recipe as a rough guide to ingredients and quantities.

The ingredients list from the book to serve 6 is:

• 1kg stewing steak
• 2tbsp plain flour
• 3 tbsp oil
• 700g onions
• 225g pancetta cubes or bacon lardons
• 2 garlic cloves
• 4 tbsp paprika
• 2 tsp mixed herbs
• 4oog can tomatoes
• 300ml beef stock
• 150ml soured cream
• chopped parsley to garnish

The recipe suggests serving with noodles, but I think it’s just as good with rice, or with mashed potatoes depending what kind of mood you’re in.

Yum! Just what was called for on a cold January evening!