TUESDAY
Beef Goulash | Pappardelle Pasta
I came across this image today while visiting one of my favorite blogs on Tumblr…Simply Good Stuff. It is a wonderful place filled with beautiful images, inspiring quotes and…simply good stuff. When I first hung my “shingle” out at Tumblr a few months ago, this was one of the very first blogs I began following and it has not disappointed me yet. Simply Good Stuff, together with All Things Bright & Beyootiful are my daily dose of pretty…enjoyed with a cup of tea, mid-morning when possible, as a momentary break from the hectic pace of real life. When I spotted this colorful message this morning I was on a “time-out” from… planning next week’s dinner menu, finalizing the details for a lunch I am “gifting” on Saturday afternoon in San Francisco, preparing & photographing this evening’s dinner, getting snacks together for Max’s basketball game this afternoon, and {as always} cycling through several loads of laundry. It made me smile…even while folding laundry.
I prepared the Beef Goulash this morning, knowing we would be out all afternoon with basketball. When the Goulash was finished, I transferred it to my slow-cooker set on warm. When we returned home this evening, shortly after 6:30pm, all I had to do was boil water for the pasta…
Beef Ghoulash {slightly adapted from The Kitchn.com}
- 2½ pounds boneless beef chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes by your butcher
- 6 slices thick-cut, uncured bacon coarsely chopped
- Canola oil
- 3 yellow onions, peeled & sliced into thin half-moons
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons Hungarian sweet paprika
- 1 {6 ounce} can organic tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon dried marjoram
- ½ cup dry red wine
- 2 cups high-quality chicken stock {tonight I used Better Than Bouillon}
- 1½ cups high-quality beef stock {tonight I used Better Than Bouillon}
- 2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded and sliced lengthwise into this strips
- Kosher salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
- Fresh pappardelle pasta, cooked according to package directions
Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook until golden. With a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a large bowl, leaving the drippings in the pan, and set aside. Sprinkle the beef cubes generously with salt & pepper. Add 1/3 of the beef cubes, to the bacon drippings in the Dutch oven and cook until a deep brown, about 5 minutes. Turn beef cubes and continue cooking until remaining sides are browned, another 5 minutes. Remove beef from the pot and place in the bowl containing the cooked bacon. Add the next 1/3 of the beef cubes {and more oil if needed}. Repeat the searing process until all of the meat is browned and set the bowl aside…
Lower the heat to medium and add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to the pot. Add the onions and sauté, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, about 8 minutes…
Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the paprika, tomato paste and marjoram until combined…
Pour in the wine and increase the heat to high. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to remove any browned bits. Add stocks, browned beed and reserved bacon to the pot and bring all to a boil. Cover and transfer to oven and cook for 1 hour…
Meanwhile, slice the red bell peppers. After an hour, remove pot from oven and stir in red bell pepper strips…
Return the pot to the oven and continue cooking until the meat is very tender, about 1 hour. Season with salt & pepper. Ladle over pappardelle, or a pasta of your choosing…
After a long, gray day it finally began to rain as I was serving dinner. Michael had business in Southern California today and won’t be home until tomorrow so it was just the children and I. We each grabbed a bowl of this wonderful comfort food and ate in front of a roaring fire in the fireplace…so happy tomorrow is FRIDAY!
