Foooood

Last night, beef goulash. It's kind of similar to stroganoff, which would be more in line with my northern European roots, but I like the paprika and dill of the Hungarian/central-southern version.

I marinated some chopped beef (chunks of round, cut into small strips) in wine/olive oil/spices/dijon, browned it in oil and butter, tossed in some flour, paprika, celery salt, dill, salt, onion powder and black pepper until it got thick and removed it from the heat. In a bigger pot, I heated olive oil and butter and sauteed some onions just to the point of carmalizing, then put in some rough-cut porcini (baby portabella) mushrooms (I like them in large chunks). Once everything started to soften, I tosssed in the browned beef, then added a mixture of a half-cup each of sour cream and yogurt (you may spell it yoghurt if you're not in the States ;p ) with a couple tablespoons of flour stirred in. Mixed together, it's a yummy mixture of creaminess, beef, and basic herbs and onions and mushrooms. I toss a lid on than and let it simmer barely on low (barely any simmer-bubbles in the thick mixture).

In another pot, I set some highly salted water to boil, then toss in some egg noodles. It takes about 6-10 minutes to cook the noodles, which is perfect for the meat/yogurt mixture to simmer and take the beef from raw and browned to tenderly cooked. Strain the egg noodles, put on a couple plates, spoon the goulash over the noodles, then sprinkle paprika and dill over to make it interesting.

Paprika is mild (except for the spicy variety, but almost all paprika in America is the mild variety), so it makes a good garnish since it's not easy to over-spice unless you go a little nuts. Dill is more noticeable, so a little bit, sprinkled around the plate, just barely visible, adds visual appeal without seeming like a pickle-jar just got emptied over the meal.