Goulash is a rich, fragrant Eastern European stew that is excellent accompanied by homemade noodles, rice, dumplings, or potatoes.

Ingredients for Hungarian Beef Goulash

1 lb. stewing beef
2 T fat
2 sliced onions
1/2 tsp salt
1 T paprika
2 T flour
1 cup tomato puree
1 cup beef broth
1/2 cup sour cream

Preparation for Hungarian Beef Goulash

In a heavy skillet or pot, sauté the stewing beef in fat over medium heat until browned. Add the sliced onions and stir until translucent. Add the salt and paprika, stirring until the paprika releases its fragrance. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for one hour. Stir frequently to prevent sticking.

Stir in flour and brown lightly. Add the tomato puree  mixed with the beef broth. Simmer for one hour longer, or until meat is tender.

Remove from heat and add the sour cream, stirring until smooth and warm.

Serve with rice, noodles, potatoes, or dumplings.

Servings: 3

This was always the traditional left-over-turkey dish that was made in our home on Boxing Day. Mom would make Boxing Day turkey rice in the turkey roaster and it would fill the kitchen for a second time with the rich smell of roast turkey, stuffing, and sage.

Boxing Day is December 26th, the day after Christmas. It stems from the British tradition, followed in Canada, of giving gifts to the poor after Christmas (perhaps in the form of leftover food, I’ve always thought…just like this turkey rice made of all the table leftovers from our Christmas meal)

Ingredients

• Shredded left-over Christmas turkey meat
• Left-over turkey stuffing, crumbled or cut into small pieces
• Left-over Christmas dinner vegetables, diced or chopped
• 1 can kernel corn
• 3 carrots, cubed
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 5 chicken livers, chopped (optional)
• 1 T sage
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 2 T chopped parsley
• 2 tsp salt
• Rice (2-1 liquid-to-rice ratio )
• Turkey broth from bones, plus left-over gravy
• Water as needed

Preparing Boxing Day Turkey Rice

Remove meat from turkey bones. Boil up bones until a good broth is formed, the longer, the better.

In a large roasting pan, combine all ingredients except broth and rice. Measure out enough liquid (gravy mixed with turkey broth and, if necessary, extra water) to cover all ingredients in pan well. Add rice at a 2-1 ratio and stir it all together.

Cover with foil and place in a 350ºF oven. Bake for about 1-1/4 hours or until most of liquid is absorbed, then uncover and bake more (up to about 2 hours) until the top of rice is crusty and brown.

This was one of Mom’s standby recipes. I did not like liver until one day when I was about four. I distinctly remember sitting in the dining “nook” in the kitchen in McConnell Creek, having eaten my mashed potatoes and vegetable, pushing the little pieces of liver around my plate and trying to make it look like I was finished. I guess I’d done it before, because THIS time Dad wasn’t having any of it. He gave me an ultimatum: “I’ll go into the living room to sit on the  (Chartreuse) couch beside the (Hammond Chord) organ, and will wait for 5 minutes. When I come back, either the liver is inside your stomach, or you go to bed for the rest of the day without anything else to eat, no books, no toys.” I debated momentarily before resignedly setting into my plate. There really wasn’t all that much on it, after all–I hadn’t been served a large portion. I survived the experience and liver became one of my favorite foods. I used to hate cheddar cheese, too, if you can believe that one.

Ingredients for Liver in Spanish Sauce

• 1 lb. sliced beef liver
• 2 T flour
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t pepper
• 2 T chopped onion
• 2 T chopped green pepper
• 1 t dried parsley
• 1/8 t cayenne pepper
• 2 cups canned tomatoes
• 2 T oil or bacon drippings

Preparing Liver in Spanish Sauce

Rinse and trim liver. Dredge in flour. Brown in oil or bacon drippings. Add rest of ingredients. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove cover and let sauce thicken if desired. Serve over rice.

Klopsk w Smietanie

• 4 slices bread, crusts removed
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 large, minces onion
• 2 eggs, separated
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 T dill
• 1/2 t tarragon
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 pound sliced mushrooms
• butter for frying
• 1-1/2 cups sour cream

Soak the bread in milk. Saute the onion in the butter until soft. Combine the ground beef, lightly beaten egg yolks, soaked bread mixture, sauteed onion, dill, tarragon, salt and pepper. Beat 2 egg whites into soft peaks and fold into beef. Form into small balls and roll in a bit of flour. Brown meatballs in butter in a large skillet over medium heat. In another pan saute mushrooms in 3 T butter until browned. Add to meatballs and stir in sour cream, coating the meatballs well. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally. Season to taste.

Serves 8

Spanish rice with chicken and rabbit

Ingredients

• 1/2 chicken, cut up
• 1/2 rabbit, cut up
• 2 or 3 ripe tomatoes
• 1 artichoke, cooked and separated
• 1/4 cup peas
• 2 cups rice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and 2 or 3 filaments of saffron
• 4 cups water or broth

Preparation

Heat oil in a paella pan or shallow skillet. Throw in cut chicken and rabbit. Reduce heat and sauté until golden.

Add the tomatoes, chopped finely, and the artichoke. Cook 5 minutes. Add water. When it breaks into a boil, add the rice, salt, and saffron.

Lower flame gradually as rice cooks. Cook for about 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

Remove from flame and let sit for a few minutes before serving. Servings: 6

Note: This is the true Valencia-style dish–made without seafood–as opposed to paella from Alicante, which does contain seafood. This little fact could cause dissension amongst the ranks of those who believe paella is synonymous with a seafood dish. The word paella, in fact, is the name of the wide, flat-bottomed pan in which the rice dish, whether seafood based or otherwise, is made.

• 4 lb. piece of beef brisket, flank or plate
• 4 quarts water
• 1-1/2 lbs salt
• 1/2 lb sugar

Rub beef with salt. Put in an enameled pot or stone jar; cover with a solution of water mixed with salt and sugar. Let cool. Cover and weigh the meat down so that it stays submerged. Corning will take 48 hrs. After beef is corned, wash under running water to remove the brine. Cover with boiling water and simmer 4 hrs until tender all the way through. To press for slicing cold, force into a deep pan when cool. Cover and refrigerate, weighted down. The moisture will form a jellied coating.

This veal casserole is versatile.  I’ve used regular tough beef instead of veal, oil or margarine instead of butter, red wine instead of white, canned tomatoes instead of fresh, and it always comes out delicious.

Ingredients for Veal Casserole

• 2-1/2 to 3 lbs. veal cutlet, cubed
• 3 T butter
• 1 T oil
• 2 T chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 T flour
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup dry, white wine
• 4 large tomatoes, chopped
• juice of 1 lemon
• salt and pepper
• 1 lb. mushrooms

Preparation:

Brown meat in butter and oil. Remove and place in casserole dish. In fat, saute onion and garlic. Stir in flour till smooth and add chicken stock, 1/4 cup wine, tomatoes, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Pour over veal.

Cover and place in 350ºF oven for 1-1/2 hours, adding balance of wine as necessary. Saute mushrooms quickly in butter and spread over meat. Return to oven for 30-45 minutes.

Filete a la Pimienta Verde

Recipe from Gabriela Barraza

• 6 beef tenderloin filets, 6 oz. each
• Green peppercorns
• Oil, butter
• 10 T sour cream
• 6 T Armagnac
• Salt

If the peppercorns are dry, rehydrate in a little water. Cover the filets with the peppercorns and fry in a mixture of oil and butter from 10 to 14 minutes. Place on warmed plates. Remove excess grease from frying pan. Sprinkle in the Armagnac and add the sour cream. Cook over low flame, stirring, until obtaining a thick creamy sauce. Pour over filets and serve.