Slow-cooked Hungarian Goulash for a cosy night in

Cold, damp January evenings call for comforting stews and warm bread for dunking, eaten by candlelight with thick woolly socks on - or a 'Hygge' night in as its now commonly known. If you were lucky enough to get a slow cooker for Christmas, this is a straightforward dish to try out your new toy, and slow cooking is ideal for using cheaper cuts of meat if the purse strings are a little tight this month. Just don't go mad and slow cook everyday, as stews can get a bit "samey" and may lead to remarks such as "is there a war on?"...

Goulash recipes have remained fairly unchanged over the years, with beef, tomatoes, red pepper, paprika and caraway seeds as the staple ingredients. I used a recipe from Crockery Pot Cooking published in 1978, with some adaptations from Miss South's Slow Cooked, one of my favourite present day cookbooks. One difference was the addition of carrot in the 1978 recipe, which I kept in the spirit of hitting 5-a-day, but on reflection didn't add to the final dish. I also left out the wine and just used stock, which may seem surprising but Felicity Cloake reported in her Perfect column that it was wasted in this stew, and that's the last thing I want to do with wine!

To brown or not to brown: slow cooker recipes offer conflicting advice on this. Some claim browning the meat before slow cooking seals in the flavour, while others feel that you leave behind the best bits in the browning pan. My slow cooker comes with a removable crock pot that can be use on the hob, so I brown the meat and get to keep all the best bits too. 

The Bearded Argentinian suggested serving the goulash with spätzle, a German/Austrian gnocchi-like pasta - this is a very common combination in Patagonia, so much so that the Bearded Argentinian isn't quite sure which bit is goulash and which is spätzle... I've included a brief bonus recipe for the spätzle within the method as I just got it off t'internet. Mashed potato also goes very well.

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

600g braising steak, in large chunks

2 tbsp plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely

2 carrots, chopped into medium sized chunks 

1 red pepper, chopped

1 tin chopped tomatoes

2 tbsp paprika (sweet smoked is best)

1tsp caraway seeds

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tin plum tomatoes

500ml beef stock

Sour cream and chives to serve

Method

1. Coat the meat with flour, season and brown all over in a little oil 

2. Add the onion, garlic and carrot and cook for a few minutes until softened (spot the deliberate mistake - forgot to add the carrot!). 

If you don't want to brown the meat and veg, just add everything raw from steps 1 and 2 to the slow cooker and go straight to the next step.

3. Blitz the can of chopped tomatoes with the red pepper and spices to make a purée.

4. Add the purée to the meat and veg and stir to coat everything.

5. Add the plum tomatoes and stock, put on the lid and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Don't peek! However tempting it is, lifting the lid can add up to 20 minutes to the cooking time, so be patient and just enjoy the lovely warm smell...

Bonus spätzle recipe (from AllRecipes.co.uk): mix 125g plain flour with a grating of nutmeg and a pinch of salt and pepper. Beat 2 eggs with 4 tbsp milk then stir into the flour and leave for 15 minutes. To cook the spätzle, push the batter through the holes in a colander or steamer into a pan of boiling water to make their characteristic noodle shape, and cook for 5 minutes. Before serving, brown the drained spätzle in butter.

When the goulash is ready, the meat will fall apart, the carrots will be soft and the sauce will have thickened slightly.  Serve with a generous dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of chives.

Happy Hygge!

2-4-1 Christmas edition: glazed ham and pease pudding

Ham and pease pudding were, in our house, essential ingredients of a "choosy tea" - a kind of buffet where you get to choose what you want, not the brand of cat food. My Granny always made the pease pudding and although I never saw her do it, I had the distinct impression it had something to do with the water from a boiled ham...

For some reason I've never cooked a ham before, possibly because Appleton's butchers in Ripon do such tasty sliced ham (see also: Hatty's tea shop). So for this week's bumper Christmas issue, I've made a festive glazed ham studded with cloves, and a batch of pease pudding to go with the cold leftovers.

The recipe for the baked ham was easy enough to find: I used a 1977 St Michael All Colour cookery book, a joyous riot of 70s colours sourced from a secondhand shop on Brick Lane. The pease pudding recipe was a bit trickier to find, but as southerners always look at me blankly when I mention it, I tried Elizabeth Craig's Scottish Cookery book from 1965, a kind donation from a fellow Barbicanite. Her recipe is straightforward but doesn't mention the involvement of any ham. Mrs Beeton's All About Cookery (awarded to Edna Dash for third place a cake-making competition in 1933) has two versions, one of which involves boiling the peas in a muslin pouch alongside the ham. As it turned out, my pan wasn't big enough for both, so I cooked the peas separately and topped up the cooking water with a little ham stock.

Ingredients

Glazed Ham: 

(Serves at least 4 with plenty of leftovers for a choosy tea)

1 smoked gammon* joint (about 1.5 - 2 kg), either soaked overnight in cold water or boiled in water for 10 minutes.

For the stock

6 peppercorns

6 juniper berries

2 carrots, scrubbed and cut into large chunks

2 small onions, peeled, halved and studded with a few cloves

2 stocks of celery, cut into large chunks 

3 bay leaves

For the glaze 

2 tbsp runny honey

2 tbsp English mustard

About 12 cloves

*if you're wondering, as I did, what the difference is between gammon and ham, they're the same cut of meat but gammon is the raw joint and ham is the cooked result. 

Pease pudding

(Serves enough - not many people like it!)

250ml dried split peas

1 egg

1 tbsp butter

Salt and pepper 

Glazed ham method

1. Drain the joint and discard the water. Cover with fresh cold water and add the stock ingredients. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes per 500g until tender.

2. Remove from the pan and allow to cool slightly (the cooking liquid can be strained to make a lovely ham stock). Heat the oven to 200C, and make the glaze by mixing together the mustard and honey.

3. Remove the rind for the joint (it will peel away quite easily), leaving as much fat as possible. Score the fat in a diamond pattern and press a clove into the middle of each diamond. Brush the whole joint with half the glaze.

4.  Bake on a roasting tray in the oven for 10 minutes then add the rest of the glaze and bake for another 10 minutes until brown and crisp. Rest the joint for 15 minutes before carving and serving.

The sweetness of the joint is well balanced with creamy potatoes (dauphinoise or mash) and some punchy green veg such as sprouts.

Pease pudding method 

1. Soak the peas in water for a couple of hours then drain and tie up in a piece of muslin or pudding cloth.

2. Place the bag of peas in a pan of boiling water (or alongside the ham if you've got a pan big enough) and simmer for 1.5 hours until very soft.

3. Drain the peas then rub them through a wire sieve to make a purée - almost all of the peas will go through.

4. Add the beaten egg and butter, season with salt and butter and add a little sugar to taste if needed.

5. Tie up tightly in the muslin again and simmer for another 20 minutes.

The end result is a rather unappetising yellowy-green purée but for me it tastes just as it should with the leftover ham and some cheese and pickle.

Has anyone else even heard of it? Anyone like it?!

Smoking hot chilli con carne

This classic "Mexican" dish is not from a recipe book or the Bearded Argentinian as you might suspect, but from my Dad, Barry. Here's a photo of my Dad in the 70s to set some context (#nofilter, colours were just like that in the 70s).

This is a truly warming winter meal and tastes even better the following day or out of the freezer - good job as my Dad always makes a vat of it. So, like Cate's shepherd's pie, another great option for a 'make ahead and freeze' meal for over the holding period (although granted, it's probably a bit late for this holiday period...).

Top tips from Barry that I've picked up over the years include: using plum tinned tomatoes rather than chopped as they are more intense; adding a combination of mild and hot chilli powders, as the mild has more flavour whereas the hot has the kick; and simmering the chilli for as long as you can. I've also added my own twist, adapted from a pulled pork dish by Felicity Cloake in Perfect Host: adding a shot of espresso coffee for a lovely rich smokiness.

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

1 onion

500g beef mince

2 teaspoons mild chilli powder

2 teaspoons hot chilli powder (for medium-hot; adjust ratio depending on spice tolerance)

2 whole fresh chillis (optional)

1 beef stock cube

1 tin plum tomatoes in juice

1 shot fresh espresso coffee

1 tin red kidney beans

Method

1.  Chop the onion and cook gently in a tablespoon of olive oil for a few minutes. Add the mince and brown.

2. Add the spices and fresh chillis (if using), crumble in the stock cube, tip in the tomatoes, refill the tin with water and add that too, then add the coffee and season.

3. Cover and sImmer for at least 45 minutes, longer if possible, adding more water if it becomes to dry.

4. Break up the plum tomatoes and add the kidney beans; cook for another 10 minutes. The sauce should be thick and not at all watery.

Serve with rice or a jacket potato, maybe a dollop of yoghurt to cool the spices, for a warming (and filling) meal.

A Single Meatloaf

This week our friend Dave turns 40, and to kick off proceedings we held a "secret cinema" evening, leaving clues around the flat:

The film, if you haven't guessed yet, was "A Single Man" (I know, cheery), set in 1962 Los Angeles. One of the reasons I love this film is George's beautiful modernist house that has many Barbican-esque features, including floor to ceiling wooden-framed windows and drool-worthy chairs.

There is absolutely no mention of food in the entire film, and the only food that makes an on-screen appearance is some frozen bread. So I decided to serve up a classic American 60s dish, plumping for meatloaf, using Delia's Evening Standard cookbook recipe. This must have been one of Granny's favourites too - there's still a handwritten bookmark! I like to add tomato ketchup to the top of the loaf before baking, a tip from present day cookbook New York Cult Recipes, which adds a little extra to the taste and also helps stop the meat drying out. Meatloaf is also a dish that benefits from being made in advance - storing it overnight in the fridge makes it more robust and easier to cut into slices, as well as leaving more time for dancing when your guests arrive. 

Ingredients:

(Serves 4)

500g minced beef

500g minced pork

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 green bell pepper, finely chopped

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp dried oregano

1 clove of garlic

3 slices white bread 

2 tbsp milk

1 egg, beaten

50ml tomato ketchup

Method

1. Mix together the meat, chopped vegetables, herbs and garlic in a large bowl

2. Cut the crusts off the bread and soak in the milk. Squeeze out the excess milk and add the bread to the meat mixture, mixing again.

3. Season and add the egg to bind the mixture together. Pack into a loaf tin, cover and store in the fridge until ready to cook 

4. Spread the ketchup over the top of the meatloaf and cook in the oven at 180C for an hour.

Slice the loaf into thick portions and serve with mash, gravy, creamed corn and coleslaw for a filling and tasty American feast.

Happy BirthDave! 

Chicken soup for "invalids"

"Wife, mother, sister, whoever does the Christmas catering must be able to enjoy herself with the others..." begins the Christmas chapter of my 1964 edition of Woman's Own cookbook. This latest addition to my collection of retro recipe books (thanks Dad!) is a true housewife's handbook that's not only massively sexist but also packed with colour photographs and recipes for all occasions.

The occasion I was cooking for this week was 'having a cold'... the Bearded Argentinian and I have both been suffering this month. Luckily this cookbook has an entire chapter entitled "Invalid cookery", featuring (allegedly) inviting food to tempt flagging appetites. The chicken broth recipe, however, is a bit sparse, using just the liquor from a boiled fowl, simmered for 2 hours with chicken bones, then strained. That's it. Still, rather that than Brain Scallop, the next recipe in the chapter...

So I decided we weren't that poorly and we could probably manage something a bit more substantial. And even better, to get to a chicken carcass, you've got to have a roast chicken first, haven't you? 

(Just showing off...)

Ingredients:

Serves 2-3

1 chicken carcass and any leftover meat

1 small carrot

1 small onion

1 stick of celery

1 bay leaf

1 bouquet garni

50g rice or pearl barley

Chopped fresh parsley

Method:

1. Peel and slice the vegetables

2. Put all the ingredients in a large pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 2 hours. Skim regularly to remove any scum.

3. To serve, either strain the soup and just serve the broth, or remove the carcass, bay leaf and bouquet garni and serve with all the bits in. Garnish with fresh parsley and a side of lemsip.

Get well soon!

Cate's Shepherd's Pie

As featured in Barbican Life magazine!! http://flickread.com/edition/html/584e5d1a464d0#1

This was my favourite meal growing up. Actually, it’s my favourite meal now. Shepherd’s Pie is supposed to be lamb rather then beef mince, but we’ve always called it Shepherd’s Pie, so I’m sticking to it. It’s hearty comfort food, perfect for winter, and if you make double and freeze one, it’ll be a blessing during the upcoming holidays when you can’t face any more cooking. 

Unlike most other dishes on my blog, this one is from memory: years of standing next to Mum at the cooker and watching for the secret trick to make the meat taste so rich. Apparently it’s not a secret – it’s Bisto gravy granules.

My mum in the 70s (same as now but with less perm. And better furniture)

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

1 onion, chopped

500g beef mince

1 stock cube, made up to 500ml with hot water

A few squirts of HP sauce

2 tsp gravy granules

4 large potatoes(about 1kg), peeled

1 tbsp butter

Method

1. Fry the onion in a little oil until starting to colour. Add the mince and poke it with a wooden spoon so it breaks apart and is completely browned.

2. Add the stock, HP sauce and gravy granules and bring to the boil. Taste and season, then simmer for about 30 minutes.

3. Chop the potatoes into even sized chunks and boil for 20 minutes until tender. Preheat the oven to 180⁰C.

4. Mash the potatoes and add the butter and some salt and pepper

5. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the mince, without too much liquid, to a pie dish. Layer the mash on top. Run a fork along the top of the potato to ruffle it up, which makes lovely crisp brown ridges. Sprinkle with cheese if liked.

6. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes until the potato is browning and the gravy is bubbling up around the edges (or freeze at previous step and cook from frozen for about 50 minutes).

I like my Shepherd's Pie with peas, grave made from the leftover meat juices and more HP sauce.

Jazzing it up

Shepherd's Pie can be jazzed any ways, especially if you want to up the vegetable count. 

Grating a carrot into the mince is a good way of hiding extra vegetables. Adding peas, sweetcorn  and chopped carrot to the mince makes for a colourful one pot pie, and you can use a little less mince. You can also play with the topping, adding sweet potato or swede to the mash. A crispy leek and breadcrumb topping is another alternative.

Unanswered Shepherd's Pie questions

Why does this taste completely different from "mince with mashed potatoes"? Even with exactly the same ingredients, something magic happens in the oven...

Why can I eat so much of it?