one dish meals. comfort food. family and friends. all go hand-in-hand with my eternal and heartfelt love of food. nothing compares to sitting around with people you care about sharing a home-cooked meal with plenty of alcohol-induced laughs.
goulash is defined as a hungarian dish that means literally, herdsman's meat. to most people it likely brings to mind a stew-type dish with some sort of meat and veg. the latter definitely fits closer to my definition when i think of goulash.
i'm not sure how goulash fits into our family history. i have a few theories. one, my nana, my father's mother, was hungarian and perhaps it was her recipe that she passed to my mother...but for some reason i feel like my mom learned it from her mother..... maybe it just reminds me of my grandmother's style of cooking, specifically though not taste-related to her famous spanish rice. those warm bowls of comfort that could cure any bad day and make any anxiety wash away faster than xanax with a few bites.
so the method:
start with a 1/2 lb of ground beef, i used 96/4 fat, but please use whichever fat percentage you prefer. i'm sure grandma would turn over in her grave at my choice of meat, but i think it has excellent taste and the health aspects are beneficial.
ok so brown the 1/2 lb meat in a medium-sized skillet, breaking it up with the a wooden spoon over medium heat:
as the meat browns, i rough chopped a medium onion and green pepper, then add to your mini-prep to make the pieces into a nice mince. add the onion and pepper and half a can (the big can people, the 1lb 12oz can) of crushed whole tomatoes to the meat
now its time to season, add 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, 1/2 teaspoon each dried oregano, garlic powder, parsley and basil. stir all together till incorporated. cover pot and let simmer about an hour, coming back every 10-15 minutes to stir.
at this point your vegetables should be broken down, the tomatoes definitely take the longest and you can sort of chop them up into pieces with the edge of your wooden spoon.
now boil a smallish pot of water and generously salt. once water is at a rolling boil add about 3 servings of elbow macaroni and cook about 10 minutes before draining.
*note: when draining, reserve about a 1/2 cup of your cooking water.*
while your elbows drain, add the 1/2 cup cooking liquid to thicken your goulash along with 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese before adding the elbows.
i wish i could insert the smell into this blog for you to get the full affect but unfortunately there is no scratch and sniff feature on blogspot. the best thing you can do for yourself is to make this, even though its 95 and humid and i live in dc, i made this, pumped the AC and poured some cold brews. husband and i were very pleased with the results. serving one of three below:
plus many bites directly from the pan throughout the evening....and yes the spanish rice recipe will come sometime soon. stay tuned:)
goulash is defined as a hungarian dish that means literally, herdsman's meat. to most people it likely brings to mind a stew-type dish with some sort of meat and veg. the latter definitely fits closer to my definition when i think of goulash.
i'm not sure how goulash fits into our family history. i have a few theories. one, my nana, my father's mother, was hungarian and perhaps it was her recipe that she passed to my mother...but for some reason i feel like my mom learned it from her mother..... maybe it just reminds me of my grandmother's style of cooking, specifically though not taste-related to her famous spanish rice. those warm bowls of comfort that could cure any bad day and make any anxiety wash away faster than xanax with a few bites.
so the method:
start with a 1/2 lb of ground beef, i used 96/4 fat, but please use whichever fat percentage you prefer. i'm sure grandma would turn over in her grave at my choice of meat, but i think it has excellent taste and the health aspects are beneficial.
ok so brown the 1/2 lb meat in a medium-sized skillet, breaking it up with the a wooden spoon over medium heat:
as the meat browns, i rough chopped a medium onion and green pepper, then add to your mini-prep to make the pieces into a nice mince. add the onion and pepper and half a can (the big can people, the 1lb 12oz can) of crushed whole tomatoes to the meat
now its time to season, add 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, 1/2 teaspoon each dried oregano, garlic powder, parsley and basil. stir all together till incorporated. cover pot and let simmer about an hour, coming back every 10-15 minutes to stir.
at this point your vegetables should be broken down, the tomatoes definitely take the longest and you can sort of chop them up into pieces with the edge of your wooden spoon.now boil a smallish pot of water and generously salt. once water is at a rolling boil add about 3 servings of elbow macaroni and cook about 10 minutes before draining.
*note: when draining, reserve about a 1/2 cup of your cooking water.*
while your elbows drain, add the 1/2 cup cooking liquid to thicken your goulash along with 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese before adding the elbows.
i wish i could insert the smell into this blog for you to get the full affect but unfortunately there is no scratch and sniff feature on blogspot. the best thing you can do for yourself is to make this, even though its 95 and humid and i live in dc, i made this, pumped the AC and poured some cold brews. husband and i were very pleased with the results. serving one of three below:
plus many bites directly from the pan throughout the evening....and yes the spanish rice recipe will come sometime soon. stay tuned:)
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