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

Squash and Kohlrabi Soup with Bacon

One side of my oven baked spaghetti squash was left over from my last dish. 2 Kohlrabi and a large potato, a bit of leek needed some attention too.

I stuck my head in the fridge and found a package of Dutch smoked bacon lardons from my trip to the Netherlands. Exp date was end of October, so still in prime condition.

What is better then a pot of soup at the beginning of the fall season and declining temperatures.

Fast, tasty and filling.

Ingredients:
125 g smoked bacon
2 medium kohlrabi
1/2 baked spaghetti squash
1 large potato
10 cm leek
1 spring onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp organic veg stock paste
600 ml water
Salt and pepper
Oil
Bay leaves
Lovage
Parsley

Chop everything and scrape thr flesh from the squash halve.
In a medium pot heat up 1 tsp oil and toss the bavon lardons in. Get them to a good softness, but not brown. Season.
Add onion and garlic and cook 2 min.
Get all the other stuff in, bring to a boil and refuce the heat and cook for 20 min.

Get some fresh parsley in.

Squash with minced meat sauce

There are several farm stands around here that sell pumpkins and squash out of crates. They are a lot cheaper then the ones you will see at the supermarket. And they are grown local!

Spaghetti squash was on the menu for today. This is a type of squash that is on the rather bland side. I cut it into 2 pieces lengthwise and scraped the seeds out with a spoon.

Some "Everything but Bagel" spice from Trader's Joe, granulated onion powder and pepper as seasoning and some spritz of olive oil.
In the oven at 180 C fan fir 40 min.

Scrape the flesh out with a fork when the sauce is ready.

I wanted a meat sauce that was a bit more broth like.

Recipe for the sauce:
400 g minced pork and beef
1 tsp rapeseed oil
150 g green of a leek
1 red onion
1 red chili
2 cloves of garlic
8 cherry tomatoes
300 ml beef stock
Salt, pepper, dried thyme
Fresh lovage stalk
2 bay leaves

In a pot heat up the oil and break the meat in small lumps in. Let it sit a bit and then start to stir. It needs to be cooked just so ut is no longer red.
Add salt and pepper and leek and oniobs with garlic. Cook for 3 more min.
Now in with the rest. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook 20 min.

Serve with the squash or with pasta.

Fish Roll at Gosch Restaurant

I spent a long weekend at the North Sea at Sankt Peter Ording. Eating fish or shrimp filled rolls was one goal.

Everybody recommended the Gosch Restaurant on the sea promenade or street food stall on the main tourist route.

Gosch restaurant is originally based on the island of Sylt. But branched out to lots of other tourist spots in Germany.

I love smoked salmon. The different fish options go from herring, baked fish filets and north sea shrimps. These are the tiny ones.
I was looking forward to my smoked fish stuffed roll.

Yellow Thai Curry with Prawns

The Thai Curry Paste was from the Dutch supermarket. Just the curry paste, a small package of fish sauce and a bag of coconut powder to put into hot water to get some coconut milk.

Just add prawns the the veggies you like. I used a small kohlrabi, some of my home grown tomatoes and some spring onions.  Last week I bought a kilo of sticky rice from Thailand. The whole package did overflow my storage container. That's why I ate the rest of the sticky rice with the Thai curry.

Ingredients:
1 package yellow thai curry including coconut milk powder and fish sauce
2 tsp coconut oil
125 g prawns
8 cherry tomatoes
1 spring onion
1 small kohlrabi
1 tsp agave syrup or sugar
1/2 cup rice
Pepper

Fry of the veggies in 1 tsp of coconut oil and set aside.
In the same pan in 1 tsp coconut oil fry off the curry paste for a couple of minutes.
Add hot water to the coconut powder, stir well and toss it in the pan.
Add the veggie mix and cook the prawns in the sauce!
Now in with sugar and as much fish sauce you like.
Eat over rice.

Broccoli Chicken Soup

It is always a bad time when the dentist pulls out a tooth. Several days to eat soft food is not something to look forward to.

When you have veggies and meat in the fridge, a good idea to prepare them and have them blended into oblivion is a challenge.

I had some chicken breast, a whole head of broccoli and some parsley roots to prepare.

Recipe:
150 g chicken breast
1 tbsp oil
2 spring onions
2 cloves of garlic
400 g broccoli
2 parsley roots
1 heaped tsp veg stock past1 stalk lobage
1 bay leaf
150 ml milk
Salt and pepper

Fry off the chicken pieces in some oil
 Add onions and garlic and give them 2 min.
Now in with the chopped veggies and the milk. Add about 450 ml of water.
Cook for 20 min.
Blend and enjoy.

Brussel Sprout Soup with Majoram

I checked the internet to see which herbs are going with brussel sprouts. I discovered that in the Flemish area of Belgium the sprouts were served in a white sauce with majoram.
That inspired me to add a bunch of fresh majoram from my balcony to my soup. Since brussel sprouts are not my usual veggie to eat, I would have gone with a bit of nutmeg or caraway. That works with all kinds of kraut, well cabbage.

The ingredients of this soup are pretty basic. Bacon goes good with almost everything. Onions, garlic and a chunk of potato are a good company. 

On my latest brussel sprout test run I had  about 400 g left over. They start to look less fresh when you leave them sitting around a day or too. The time for the soup was right.

Recipe:
300 g cleaned brussel sprouts
160 g peeled potato
2 red onions
3 cloves of garlic
35 g bacon lardons
3 stalks of majoram
1 tbsp organic veg stock paste
400 ml water
Salt and pepper
Oil
Sour cream for garnish

Let onions and garlic get some sweating time in the oil. Add the bacon and give that 3 min.
Now in with the rest and let it cook for 18 min.
Use a blender to make a creamy soup.
Put a dollop of sour cream on each.