Beef Pörkölt or Goulash

Slow Cooker Time.

When fall strikes I am looking for a hearty meal on the weekend. A beef goulash was not a top priority during summer.

A recipe without much hassle is often something cooking in a slow cooker. Toss in the ingredients. Just a little prep time is needed. Close the lid and put it on low and forget about it for several hours.

We have German Reunification day today with cold and windy weather. Spending time on the couch and not in the kitchen is great.

Last night I prepped the veggies and put them in a Tupperware and stored them on the balcony. It is time again to cool food outside!

I woke up at 6 AM and decided to start the cooking process. I tossed the onions and garlic in a pan with a little oil, seasoned them with salt and pepper and put a lid on top of the pan. I fried and steamed the onions for 8 min. Then I added 3 tbsp of Hungarian sweet paprika powder. Since we have a huge former Hungarian community here were I live, to get my hands on the paprika powder and other goodies is easy.

I poured the onion mix into the slow cooker first.

While the onions were cooking, I cut up the braising beef into smaller chunks and seasoned them with salt and pepper. They went into the pan after the onions on high heat. They browned on all sides and went on top of the onions.

Next was the Hungarian Goulash paste- a light orange red spicy paprika paste. I used 3 tbsp of it.

Then I covered it all with the cut up veggies and red wine and a bit of beef stock.

Lid on and set on LOW for 6 hours.

I went to bed again at 6:15 AM for a couple of more hours of sleep.

I took some ladle of sauce and several pieces of veggies out and blended them and put them back into the pot. That thickened the sauce nicely.

ingredients:

500 g braising beef

400 g shallots

6 cloves of garlic

3 medium carrots

120 g leek

150 g celeriac

3 stalks  parsley

3 tbsp sweet paprika powder

2 tbsp smoked paprika powder

3 tbsp paprika paste

200 ml red wine

150 ml beef stock